PRIME MINISTER

Written Questions: Government Responses

David Winnick: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 17 May 2012, Official Report, column 246W, on Rebekah Brooks, if he will provide the information requested in the question.

David Cameron: I have nothing further to add to the answer I gave on 17 May 2012, Official Report, column 246W.

SCOTLAND

Ministerial Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on what dates (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) senior officials in his Department have met representatives of (i) the Institute for Public Policy Research, (ii) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) ResPublica, (v) the Centre for Social Justice and (vi) Policy Exchange; and if he will publish the minutes and agendas of these meetings.

David Mundell: There have been no such meetings with these organisations.

WALES

Ministerial Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on what dates (a) she, (b) Ministers and (c) senior officials in her Department have met representatives of (i) the Institute for Public Policy Research, (ii) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) ResPublica, (v) the Centre for Social Justice and (vi) Policy Exchange; and if she will publish the minutes and agendas of these meetings.

Cheryl Gillan: No such meetings have taken place.

NORTHERN IRELAND

EU Peace Programme

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the outcome was of his bid for future funding for the next round of the EU Peace Programme; and if he will make a statement.

Owen Paterson: Negotiations on a future PEACE IV funding programme will need to be taken forward in Brussels in the context of EU budget negotiations.

Ministerial Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on what dates (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) senior officials in his Department have met representatives of (i) the Institute for Public Policy Research, (ii) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) ResPublica, (v) the Centre for Social Justice and (vi) Policy Exchange; and if he will publish the minutes and agendas of these meetings.

Owen Paterson: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the information published on the departmental website on meetings with external organisations. Information for senior officials other than the Director General is not held centrally.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Complaints

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Attorney-General how many complaints about the work of the Law Officers' Departments and their public bodies were received in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Dominic Grieve: The information on the number of formal complaints recorded centrally by the Law Officers' Departments is contained in the following table.
	
		
			 Department 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Crown Prosecution Service 1,873 1,377 
			 Serious Fraud Office 14 10 
			 Treasury Solicitor's Department 50 52 
			 HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate 0 0 
		
	
	As part of the Law Officers' superintendence role the Attorney-General's Office (AGO) also handles formal complaints about the Law Officers' Departments. In 2010 the AGO received 31 such complaints, a further 27 were received during 2011, and four have been received to date in 2012.
	The AGO also receives a small number of complaints each year regarding its own work but currently keeps no central record.

Lost Property

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Attorney-General how many items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more the Law Officers' Departments lost in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Garnier: None.

Ministerial Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Attorney-General on what dates (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) senior officials in the Law Officers' Departments have met representatives of (i) the Institute for Public Policy Research, (ii) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) ResPublica, (v) the Centre for Social Justice and (vi) Policy Exchange; and if he will publish the minutes and agendas of these meetings.

Dominic Grieve: I have met with the Centre for Social Justice once and Policy Exchange on two occasions. The Solicitor-General has met with representatives of Policy Exchange on one occasion. Agendas or minutes for these meetings are not available.
	The Director of Public Prosecutions and the CPS' Director of Strategy and Policy have both held discussions with a representative from Policy Exchange to discuss research on the role of prosecutors being currently undertaken by Policy Exchange. No agendas or minutes have been kept by the CPS.
	No member of the Treasury Solicitor's Department (TSol) has met representatives of the Institute for Public Policy Research, the Institute of Economic Affairs, ResPublica, the Centre for Social Justice or the Policy Exchange.
	TSol organised and hosted Continuous Professional Development events at which the Taxpayers’ Alliance gave a presentation on public finances and efficiencies. These events were led by the then Corporate Services Director of TSol, and were primarily attended by finance staff from TSol and other Government Departments.
	No senior officials from the Serious Fraud Office or HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate have met with representatives of any of the organisations listed since May 2010.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Correspondence

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities how many letters to Ministers in the Government Equalities Office were (a) not answered, (b) not answered within six months and (c) not answered within three months in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; how many such letters were from hon. Members; and if she will make a statement.

Lynne Featherstone: As of 1 April 2011, the Government Equalities Office has been part of the Home Office and is no longer a separate Government Department. The information requested will be provided by the Minister for Immigration in response to your question to the Secretary of State for the Home Department.

TRANSPORT

Airports: Thames Estuary

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have had with (i) ministerial colleagues, (ii) the Mayor of London, (iii) civil engineering companies, (iv) the National Air Traffic Control Service and (v) airline companies on a possible airport in the Thames estuary; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: Officials and Ministers at the Department for Transport have regular meetings with stakeholders at which a range of aviation issues are raised. The specific information requested is not readily available. It would incur disproportionate costs to compile list of all meetings between Ministers and officials in the Department and the individuals and organisations listed and to crosscheck the issues raised by stakeholders at those meetings.
	Information on ministerial meetings with external organisations is published quarterly and can be found at:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/ministerial-transparency/#meetings
	The Government will publish a consultation on their draft aviation policy framework and a call for evidence on options for maintaining the UK's hub connectivity later this summer.

Carnforth Station

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether she has any plans to upgrade the platforms at Carnforth station.

Theresa Villiers: There are no current plans to upgrade the platforms at Carnforth station.

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much her Department spent on improving infrastructure at the Dartford crossing in each year since 31 March 2002.

Michael Penning: The Highways Agency produces an account for the Dartford crossing on an annual basis, which includes details of improvement expenditure. Copies of the accounts are available in the House of Commons Library and on the Highways Agency website—the latest covering the year ending 31 March 2011.
	The annual account for the year ending 31 March 2012 is currently being prepared and should be available early in 2013.
	Prior to 1 April 2003, expenditure would be shown in the annual accounts of the Concessionaire at that time, Dartford River Crossing Limited, which built the QEII Bridge and then operated the entire crossing from 1991. Copies of these accounts, if still available, may be obtained through Companies House.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Michael Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects the result of the consultation into the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's proposed closure of local offices to be published.

Michael Penning: The consultation on Transforming DVLA Services closed on 20 March 2012. The responses are currently being analysed. A summary of responses and an announcement of future plans will be published as soon as possible after the evaluation is complete.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Michael Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will publish the feasibility study into the centralising of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's enforcement services in Swansea.

Michael Penning: The feasibility of centralising enforcement services has been investigated as part of the ongoing work around transforming DVLA services. This information is not contained in a specific document. The impacts of the proposals are being analysed and will be published in an impact assessment, alongside the summary of responses to the recent consultation.

Driving Offences: Insurance

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps her Department plans to take to reduce the number of people driving without insurance.

Michael Penning: The steps the Department is taking to reduce uninsured driving include:
	(a) Enforcing action against offenders who keep a vehicle without insurance, known as the continuous insurance enforcement scheme (CIE). This has been enforced since last June;
	(b) Tackling fraud by working with the insurance industry to allow them access to DVLA driver details on penalty points and disqualifications.
	The Government are also concerned that the rising cost of insurance may tempt motorists to drive while uninsured and is working closely with the insurance industry on measures which will help reduce premiums. The Prime Minister held a summit with industry leaders in February and there was a follow up summit in May.

Driving: Eyesight

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps her Department is taking to ensure drivers with visual problems report these to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

Michael Penning: Information about the standard of vision for safe driving is included in the Highway Code and driver licensing forms and leaflets. Regular headline prompts about eyesight and driving appear on the driving related pages of DirectGov.
	The law requires drivers to declare if eyesight problems are present. Failure to notify, or making a false declaration to DVLA, is an offence and can invalidate motor insurance.

Driving: Eyesight

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps her Department is taking to publicise the risks involved in driving with poor eyesight.

Michael Penning: Information about the standard of vision for safe driving is included in the Highway Code and driver licensing forms and leaflets. Regular headline prompts about eyesight and driving appear on the driving related pages of DirectGov.

East Anglia Main Line

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what assessment her Department has made of the potential economic benefits of improving rail links along the East Anglian mainline;
	(2)  what recent assessment her Department has made of progress in the upgrading of the East Anglian mainline railway into and out of London.

Theresa Villiers: Studies by the former East of England Development Agency and others have estimated the potential economic benefits of improvements to the East Anglian mainline.
	We will consider this route as part of our preparation for the High Level Output Specification (HLOS), setting out what we expect the rail industry to deliver in the period between 2014 and 2019 (CP5). This will take account of the needs of the railway as a whole, and our current fiscal position.
	The HLOS will be published by end July 2012.

East Anglia Main Line

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much funding her Department provided for East Anglian mainline rail infrastructure in (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011.

Theresa Villiers: This is an operational matter for Network Rail.

Motor Vehicles: Crime Prevention

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) proportionality of extending anti-tampering measures to all powered two-wheeled vehicles.

Michael Penning: The Department's impact assessment could not find evidence to support anti-tampering measures on unrestricted motorcycles and on this basis the Government have opposed proposals to extend anti-tampering measures to unrestricted motorcycles.
	However, a Commission sponsored study is underway which may provide evidence on the scale of tampering, its influence on accidents in the EU, and the effectiveness of new regulations. The Department will consider the results of this study when they are published.

Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many registered vehicle owners pay their vehicle road fund licence (a) six-monthly and (b) annually; and how much revenue is generated for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency by people paying the increased cost of six-monthly licences.

Michael Penning: The following table shows the volume of six and 12-month licences issued in financial year 2011-12:
	
		
			  6 month 12 month 
			 Issued 20,585,767 25,501,639 
			 Refunds 861,884 1,745,790 
			 Net 19,723,883 23,755,849 
		
	
	DVLA do not hold information on how much additional revenue was generated by people paying for six monthly licences.

Motor Vehicles: Insurance

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what her Department's most recent estimate is of the number of cars without insurance.

Michael Penning: The insurance industry estimate about 1.2 million vehicles are not insured. For comparison, the industry estimate in 2005 was 2 million.

Operation StepChange

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost to her Department is of Operation StepChange; and what assessment she has made of its (a) effectiveness and (b) value for money.

Theresa Villiers: Operation StepChange is a cross-Whitehall initiative to change the way civil servants travel during the London 2012 games, to ensure the business of Government continues and reduce our impact on the transport network when it will be extremely busy.
	During a trial week in February, the Department changed 71% of staff commuting trips, and reduced business trips by 36%. Research following the trial demonstrated it was effective at giving staff the opportunity to test out plans and new ways of working in advance, which will ensure productivity is maintained during the games.
	In addition to a small amount of staff resource, there was a cost to the Department of £1,314.60 as part of research to evaluate the effectiveness of the trial. We have assessed that this represents value for money given the benefits of maintaining business continuity, relieving pressure on the transport network and supporting businesses in preparing for the games. By encouraging staff to work more flexibly we anticipate there will also be longer-term resilience and productivity benefits, and a reduction in business travel costs.

Parking

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether she has any plans to bring forward proposals to regulate the operations of private parking operators.

Norman Baker: From 1 October 2012 the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 will make it an offence in England and Wales for private parking companies to clamp or tow a vehicle without lawful authority.
	From this date, private parking companies will rely on ticketing and will only be able to pursue motorists for an unpaid parking charge if they have the vehicle keeper's contact details. The DVLA will only provide these details to companies that are members of a Government Accredited Trade Association. To retain membership the company must abide by a code of practice and conduct itself professionally.
	The Government works with the parking sector to regularly review the position, including the potential to strengthen it. To this end the British Parking Association is currently revising its code of practice (the Approved Operator Scheme). In addition to coincide with the introduction of the Protection of Freedoms Act, the Government has asked the industry to establish and fund a fully independent appeals service covering all tickets issued by private parking companies with access to DVLA data. The appeals body will be a free service to motorists.

Parking

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether she has any plans to review the operations of private parking operators; and when any such review will take place.

Norman Baker: We have already reviewed the operations of private parking operators, hence the legislation going through which will make it an offence in England and Wales for such companies to clamp or tow a vehicle without lawful authority. We reserve the right to make further changes if problems arise.

Parking

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether her Department provides guidance to private parking operators on (a) signage, (b) conduct of operatives and (c) wording of penalties notices and letters.

Norman Baker: The Department does not issue guidance to private parking operators. Guidance is contained in the industry code of practice—the British Parking Association's Approved Operator Scheme.

Parking

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent representations she has received on the enforcement by private parking operators of parking penalties on private land.

Norman Baker: The Department receives regular correspondence on parking issues and is aware of the concerns about the activities of some private parking companies. That is why it is taking action to ban wheel-clamping and vehicle removal without lawful authority in England and Wales, and is actively working with the parking sector to improve its regulation and establish an independent appeals service. The British Parking Association's Code of Practice includes guidance on parking charges.

Railways: Electrification

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration she has given to continuing rail electrification from Sheffield to Leeds for the purposes of improving resilience and flexibility for the rail network.

Theresa Villiers: Network Rail considered electrification between Sheffield and Leeds in its Network Route Utilisation Strategy: Electrification and Initial Industry Plan.

Railways: Standards

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will release the right time data for train service punctuality for each train operator on each franchise for each of the last 10 years.

Norman Baker: holding answer 17 May 2012
	The Government has been working for some time with the Office of Rail Regulation and the rail industry, in line with commitments made in the Command Paper ‘Reforming our Railways: Putting the Customer First', on a range of measures to improve the availability of data about the railway, including the performance of rail services. We intend to make an announcement in due course about various ways in which we will be delivering more transparency about our railways than was the case under the previous Government.

Rescue Services: Northern Ireland

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions she has had with UK search and rescue on the creation of a permanent search and rescue helicopter base in Northern Ireland.

Michael Penning: DFT is procuring a UK wide search and rescue helicopter service. The UK SAR procurement has mandated the geographical location of only one UK base, at Lee on the Solent. The location of the remaining nine bases will be the subject of bids and subsequent evaluation, and any basing solution proposed by bidders must be able to be able to meet the key user requirements for the service.

Shipping

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will convene a working group to assess the monitoring and enforcement of the Equality Act 2010 (Work on Ships and Hovercraft) Regulations 2011.

Michael Penning: A review of the operation and effect of the regulations will be undertaken after five years in the usual way. To inform that review, I intend to convene a working group next year. I envisage the working group looking at the impact and the enforcement of the regulations in particular and it is possible that it could look into ways in which awareness of the regulations could be developed.

Transport: Exports

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to British Chambers of Commerce recommendations in the Exporting is Good for Britain and Transport Connections Support Trade report, if she will produce a comprehensive aviation strategy for the UK.

Theresa Villiers: We intend to consult in the summer on a draft sustainable framework for UK aviation. Alongside this we intend to publish a call for evidence on maintaining effective UK hub airport connectivity. The Government aim to adopt the final Aviation Policy Framework next spring.

Transport: Exports

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to British Chambers of Commerce's Exporting is Good for Britain and Transport Connections Support Trade survey, if she will put in place incentives to use rail and sea transport considered important to British exporters.

Michael Penning: The Government are committed to maintaining a dynamic, sustainable transport system that supports UK economic growth and competitiveness.
	The Department for Transport already provides incentives to encourage the transfer of freight from road to rail and water where the cost is higher than road and where there are environmental benefits to be gained.
	Grants towards the operating costs of running rail and water freight services are provided through the Mode Shift Revenue Support and Waterborne Freight Grant schemes.
	The Department has also endorsed the Freight Transport Association's Mode Shift Centre, which provides objective information to companies considering the use of rail or water transport for their operations.

Visual Impairment

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport in how many road traffic accidents previously unreported visual problems have been found to be a contributing factor.

Michael Penning: The DFT publication “Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain: annual report 2010” shows the number and proportion of reported personal injury road accidents which had “Uncorrected, defective eyesight” recorded as a contributory factor, in Great Britain in 2010. The relevant statistics can be found using the following link:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics/tables/ras50001/
	Note that contributory factors are reported only for injury road accidents where a police officer attended the scene and reported at least one contributory factor. These factors are largely subjective, reflecting the attending officer's opinion at the time of reporting. It is recognised that subsequent inquires could lead to the reporting officer changing their opinion.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Complaints

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many complaints about the work of his Department and each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies were received in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: Data relating to complaints received are not held centrally in DCLG. The majority of complaints go directly to the relevant division or arm’s length body and there is no central reporting mechanism.
	However, we can say that in 2010-11 the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman received 137 complaints relating to DCLG and its arm’s length bodies. Of these, they intervened in only one case, and did not formally investigate any. In 2009-10 the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman received 150 complaints and investigated one complaint, which was not upheld. Their figures for 2011-12 are not yet available.

Councillors: Disability

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people with disabilities were elected as councillors in each year since 2002.

Andrew Stunell: holding answer 23 May 2012
	The Department for Communities and Local Government does not collect this information.
	The most comprehensive snapshot of local authority councillors and equality information relating to disability is held by the Local Government Association which represents local authorities in England and Wales and has responsibility to support, promote and improve local government.
	The data held by the Local Government Association are taken from the most recent National Census of Local Authority Councillors in England 2010 but does not provide a complete picture as it excludes parish councillors and does not represent a 100% response rate.
	The Local Government Association website:
	http://www.local.gov.uk/web/guest/local-government-intelligence/-/journal_content/56/10171/100325/ARTICLE-TEMPLATE
	has analysis of data relating to local authority councillors from the 2010 Census including information relating to the number of councillors that reported that they had a long-term illness, health problem or disability that limited the daily activities or work they could do.

Diamond Jubilee 2012

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer of 1 May 2012, Official Report, columns 1425-6W, on the Diamond Jubilee 2012: religion, how his Department is facilitating A Year of Service; what funding or other support he has allocated to encourage groups from all faiths to participate; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Stunell: My Department is facilitating A Year of Service by chairing and hosting both the Steering Group for the programme and a Reference Group including individuals from a wide range of faith communities who are working to promote the programme within their respective communities. The latter group allows communities to share experience and helps ensure strong multi faith involvement in volunteering activities.
	My Department and the Cabinet Office have allocated funds totalling £65,000 for the central administration of the programme. We believe that faith communities are recognising the opportunities that A Year of Service offers and are rising to the challenge.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he plans to respond to Question 108000 tabled by the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East on 14 May 2012 for answer on 17 May 2012.

Bob Neill: Question 108000 was answered on 21 May 2012, Official Report, columns 393-94W.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Anti-slavery Day

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans her Department has to mark Anti-Slavery Day in October 2012.

Damian Green: The Government will announce their plans in due course.

Asylum: Democratic Republic of Congo

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the level of risk in returning failed asylum seekers to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency's Country of Origin Information Service (COIS) monitors the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), including the safety of removals. The DRC Country of Origin Information (COI) Report, which includes a section on returns, was published in March and can be found on the Home Office website at:
	www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/guidance/coi/
	The DRC Operational Guidance Note (OGN) includes guidance to UK Border Agency case owners on returns. This was published in May and can be found also on the Home Office website at:
	http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/guidance/csap/
	The UK Border Agency's returns policy to the DRC is kept under constant review and decisions are taken in the light of prevailing circumstances. Returns are only enforced when it is safe to do so and when the Agency and the courts are satisfied that the individual has no international protection needs.

Asylum: Democratic Republic of Congo

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had with her European counterparts on returning asylum seekers to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency has had no discussions with European counterparts about returned failed asylum seekers to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
	However, the Agency has sent a number of written questions on the subject to member states of the Intergovernmental Conference on migration, asylum and refugees, which includes 12 European states. A full fist of its member states can be found on the IGC website:
	http://www.igc.ch/

Asylum: Young People

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will consider the proposal of the Immigration Law Practitioner's Association to establish regional expert age assessment centres made in its 2007 report When Is a Child Not a Child.

Damian Green: Currently, age assessments are carried out by local authorities using a Merton-compliant process. The UK Border Agency's focus is on establishing whether the techniques and processes used for carrying out age assessments can be improved. The agency intends to address these issues before it considers the arrangements for the location of age assessments. In light of this the agency has no current plans to adopt the proposal from the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association.

British Nationality: Northern Ireland

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration she has given to using a local authority in Northern Ireland to provide the National Checking Service.

Damian Green: The Nationality Checking Service (NCS) is provided under the Local Government Act 2000 (“well being” powers). This Act does not extend to Northern Ireland, and therefore local authorities are unable to provide NCS there.

Burglary

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department spent on measures to reduce numbers of burglaries in each of the last two years; and what plans she has for such spending in each of the next three years.

James Brokenshire: The majority of Home Office funding for crime reduction and policing is provided through the unring-fenced Police Main Grant. How this funding is used is decided by individual police authorities (and from November 2012 Police and Crime Commissioners) and their chief constables. It is therefore not possible to identify the amount spent specifically on reducing burglary in each of the last two years or the amount which will be spent on reducing burglary in each of the next three years.
	In the past year, the Home Office has also provided crime reduction and policing funding to a range of partners, including the voluntary sector but it is not possible to identify the amounts specifically spent on measures to reduce burglaries.
	In 2013-14, Police and Crime Commissioners will receive funding from the new Community Safety Fund (CSF). They will be able to use the CSF to commission services that help tackle drugs and crime including burglary in their force area. The level and allocations of the CSF in 2013-14 have yet to be decided.

Deportation: Sri Lanka

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she plans to review the implications for her policy on deportations to Sri Lanka of the death of Easwarathasan Kietheeswaran; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: We do not comment on individual cases.
	The UK Border Agency's returns policy to Sri Lanka is kept constantly under review and decisions are taken in the light of prevailing circumstances. Returns are only enforced when it is safe to do so and when the agency and the courts are satisfied that the individual has no international protection needs.

Detention Centres: Children

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress she has made in ending the detention of unaccompanied children for immigration purposes.

Damian Green: Children who are unaccompanied are detained only in exceptional circumstances. At the border we may need to hold individuals while inquiries are made to decide whether they can be admitted to the country or until the next available return flight if they are refused entry. Those unaccompanied children who fall into this category may also need to be held until alternative accommodation is arranged, usually through Children's Services. Not being able to hold children would prevent us from fulfilling our legal duty of care by releasing unaccompanied children before social workers arrived to support them, placing them at greater risk. It could also weaken border security by allowing people into the country who have no right to be here. We are constantly looking at ways in which the time spent being held in this way can be reduced by improving decisions and the response times from other agencies. We are also seeking to identify improvements to the ways in which young people's ages are assessed.

Human Trafficking Ministerial Group

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what matters were discussed at the Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group on Human Trafficking's latest meeting; and who attended the meeting.

Damian Green: The Group discussed human trafficking and the Olympics, its role as National Rapporteur and assessments of trends in human trafficking. A list of Members and attendees for this meeting is provided as follows:
	Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group (IDMG) on Human Trafficking ministerial-level meeting attendees and non-attending Members ;  17 April 2012
	Attendees:
	Damian Green MP, Minister for Immigration (Chair)
	Tim Loughton MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families
	Jeremy Browne MP, Minister of State, FCO
	Crispin Blunt MP, Minister for Justice
	Baroness Hanham MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities
	David Jones MP, Wales Office
	David Ford MLA, Northern Ireland Executive
	Apologies:
	Lynne Featherstone MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities and Criminal Information
	Stephen O'Brien, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development(1)
	Anne Milton MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health(1)
	Chris Grayling MP, Minister for Employment(1)
	Kenny MacAskill MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Scottish Executive(1)
	David Mundell MP, Scotland Office(1)
	Carl Sargeant AM, Welsh Assembly Government
	Edward Gamier QC MP, Solicitor General(1)
	(1) Indicates official level deputies present at the meeting.

Immigration: South East

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effect of the current level of immigration 
	(1)  on local public services in the South East;
	(2)  on social housing in London and the South East.

Damian Green: No assessment has been made of the impacts of migration at the regional level. The independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) published an analysis of the impacts of migration on 10 January 2012. This covered UK labour market, public service and social impacts and was informed by research commissioned by the Committee from the London School of Economics on the impact of migration on access to housing and the housing market, and from Christian Dustmann and Tommaso Frattini on the impact of migration on the provision of UK public services. The MAC'S report and accompanying research are available on the Home Office website at:
	www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk
	The Home Office is currently undertaking research to build a picture of the local impacts of non-EEA migration to the UK. The resulting data will enable an assessment of the impact of migration on public services, such as social housing, at the regional level. The research will report in 2013.

Departmental Staff

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time equivalent employees have (a) left and (b) been recruited to her Department in the last two years.

Damian Green: The numbers of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees who have left and been recruited to the Home Office between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2012 are included in Table 1.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of employees (FTE) who have (a) left or (b) been recruited to the Home Office (1 April 2010 to 31 March 2012) 
			  (a) Number of Leavers (FTE) (1) (b) Number of Recruits (FTE) (2) 
			 Financial year Number of employees leaving the civil service Number of employees transferring to Other Government Number of new recruits to the civil service Number of existing civil servants transferring into the Home Office 
			 2010-11 1,767 132 353 (3)5,316 
			 2011-12 1,997 (4)297 153 (5)399 
			 Grand total 3,764 429 506 5,715 
			 (1) Leavers include employees leaving the civil service or those transferring to other Government Departments. (2) Recruits include employees new to the civil service or existing civil servants transferring in from other Government Departments. (3) 4,603 ex-HMRC customs and detection employees joined the Department as part of a machinery of government change on 1 April 2010. (4) 110 Payroll Services employees moved to Ministry of Justice as part of a machinery of government change on 1 April 2011. (5) 88 Government Equalities Office employees and 42 National Fraud Authority employees joined the Department as part of machinery of government changes on 1 April 2011. Extract Dates: 1. Data for 2010-11 (covering 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2012) extracted on 1 April 2011. 2. Data for 2011-12 (covering 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012) extracted on 1 April 2012. Methodology: Office for National Statistics standards for workforce reporting and include paid civil servants only. FTE figures are subject to rounding +/- 1. Source: Data View—the Department's source of Office for National Statistics (ONS) compliant corporate Human Resources data

Ministerial Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what dates (a) she, (b) Ministers and (c) senior officials in her Department have met representatives of (i) the Institute for Public Policy Research, (ii) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) ResPublica, (v) the Centre for Social Justice and (vi) Policy Exchange; and if she will publish the minutes and agendas of these meetings.

Damian Green: Home Office Ministers have meetings with a wide variety of national and international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.
	Information for meetings attended by senior officials is not collated centrally.

Publications

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many publications have been issued by her Department since May 2010.

Damian Green: The Home Office has produced a total of 74 printed publications in the period April 2010 to April 2012.

Stalking: Risk Assessment

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been trained by her Department in the use of the stalking risk assessment tool; and if she will publish a list of people trained in the use of the stalking risk assessment tool for use by police and probation services.

Lynne Featherstone: The stalking risk profile is a structured tool to assess the risks that victims of stalking may face. The Government do not hold information on how many individuals have been trained in the use of this tool, which is a commercial product.

Stalking: Risk Assessment

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her policy is on fees charged to police services who wish to contact an individual who has been trained in the stalking risk assessment tool.

Lynne Featherstone: It is for each police force to determine how its budget is spent.

Stalking: Risk Assessment

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what training her Department provides to individuals who wish to become competent in the delivery of the stalking risk assessment tool.

Lynne Featherstone: The Home Office does not provide training on any stalking risk assessment tool. We understand that the majority of police forces currently use the domestic abuse, stalking and honour based violence (DASH) model (2009), developed by the Association of Chief Police Officers and made available to all police services in England and Wales from March 2009. However, it is for individual police forces to decide which risk assessment models to use and what training their officers and staff receive.

Metal Theft

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make stolen metal an assigned matter for the UK Border Force.

Chloe Smith: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Treasury.
	Border Force works closely with SOCA and police forces to help combat crime at the border. Where there is reason to suspect that goods for export may be stolen, Border Force officers can stop the goods leaving and refer the matter to the police for them to take any necessary further action.

UK Border Agency

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) budget and (b) outturn was of the UK Border Agency in respect of IT expenditure in (i) 2011 and (ii) 2012.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency's operational IT costs, including those for Border Force, are set out in the following table. These costs do not include expenditure on IT related projects.
	
		
			 £ million 
			  Full year budget Full year outturn Full year variance 
			 2010-11 UKBA operational IT costs 112.2 113.1 0.9 
			 2011-12 UKBA operational IT costs 105.3 96.3 (9.0)

WORK AND PENSIONS

Atos Healthcare

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to begin the review of his Department's contract with Atos for the work capability assessment; and what aims his Department will have for that review.

Chris Grayling: The review of our contract with Atos is a continual process so that improvement and necessary change can be properly managed. The Department is currently looking at simplifying the management of the contract and to ensure continued fitness for purpose. The contract is due to expire in August 2015 and the Department plans to commence consideration of future requirements and strategy within the next 18 months.

Child Maintenance

Mark Spencer: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether gross or net income is used to calculate the amount of child maintenance payable.

Maria Miller: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.
	Letter from Noel Shanahan
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether gross or net income is used to calculate the amount of child maintenance payable.
	Under the 2003 child maintenance scheme, a parent's maintenance liability is based on a percentage of their net weekly income depending on the number of children a parent is liable to maintain. Deductions are made from their gross earnings to account for income tax, National Insurance Contributions and pension contributions and the resulting net weekly income is the basis for their child maintenance calculation.
	Under the new scheme, to be launched later this year, maintenance calculations will be based on a non-resident parent's gross taxable income which has been supplied to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), usually via a Pay As You Earn (PAYE, for employed people) or self-assessment return (mainly for self-employed people and those with complex tax affairs). This will result in quicker calculations which are based on more reliable income information. Cases will be subject to an annual review to ensure calculations are kept up to date, using, where possible, income information for the non-resident parent's latest available tax-year.
	The maintenance calculation will be based on taxable “earned income”, as this is the only income type which is included in both returns. Taxable earned income includes income from employment or from occupational or personal pension schemes.
	For self-employed non-resident parents, it will be their total taxable profits. We did consider whether the maintenance calculation should be based on a broader definition of income which would capture all of the income types HMRC could provide. We decided against this because it would introduce differential treatment of non-resident parents: self-assessed taxpayers would have all of their taxable income brought to account; PAYE only taxpayers would not, because we would not necessarily have details of their income from savings and investment, property etc.
	Parents with care, however, will be able to make an application for a Variation if they believe the non-resident parent has significant taxable “unearned income”, such as income from property, savings and investments. This includes dividends which legally are a type of investment income, being a return on a share holding rather than remuneration for work done.
	Further details are available in the consultation on the calculation regulations for the new scheme, which closed in February please see:
	http://www.childmaintenance.org/en/pdf/Maintenance-Calculation-Regulations-2012-Technical-Consultation.pdf

Disability Living Allowance: Airdrie

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total amount of disability living allowance payments was to residents in Airdrie and Shotts constituency in April 2012; and what estimate has been made of the amount to be paid in disability living allowance and personal independence payments in April 2013.

Maria Miller: Expenditure is not available at parliamentary constituency level by month, only for complete financial years. The most recent data available is 2010-11.
	Disability living allowance expenditure in Airdrie and Shotts in 2010-11 was £30.3 million(1).
	DWP does not produce forecasts of benefit expenditure below Great Britain level. Because new claims to personal independence payment for people living in Airdrie and Shotts constituency will only start to be taken from June 2013, and existing disability living allowance recipients will only begin to be reassessed from October 2013, there will be no personal independence payment expenditure in Airdrie and Shotts in April 2013.
	Further benefit expenditure data by country, region, local authority and parliamentary constituency to 2010-11 can be found here:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/index.php ?page=expenditure
	(1) Source:
	DWP Statistical and Accounting Data.

Employment and Support Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average wait was between a request for a reconsideration before appeal of an employment and support allowance eligibility decision and the completion of that reconsideration in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: These statistics have not previously been published as official statistics. We will consider whether to include the statistics requested in part of an upcoming statistics release in line with the code of practice on official statistics.

Hunterston B Power Station

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the Office for Nuclear Regulation last met (a) EDF Energy and (b) Balfour Beatty to discuss safety regulations at the Hunterston B nuclear power plant.

Chris Grayling: The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) carries out inspections in line with its planned inspection programme. The ONR site inspector visited Hunterston B on 21 May 2012 to undertake safety inspections and engage in discussions with EDF Energy. Prior to that, ONR inspections took place at Hunterston B on 19 to 22 March 2012. Inspections by ONR fire safety specialist inspectors have also taken place in the first quarter of 2012.
	EDF Energy, as the nuclear site licence holder, is responsible for safety compliance at Hunterston B. EDF Energy is therefore the key contact for ONR in discussions relating to safety regulations. ONR has had no discussions with Balfour Beatty.

Hunterston B Power Station

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints the Office for Nuclear Regulation received in relation to safety at the Hunterston B nuclear power plant in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012 to date.

Chris Grayling: The Office for Nuclear Regulation has received one complaint in relation to safety at the Hunterston B on 20 February 2012.

Hunterston B Power Station

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many safety investigations were carried out by the Office for Nuclear Regulation at Hunterston B nuclear power plant in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012 to date.

Chris Grayling: The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) carries out site inspections in line with its planned inspection programme. While carrying out this planned inspection programme ONR will investigate safety issues when they are identified. These are known as reactive inspections. The number of planned and reactive inspections were:
	2010: 24 planned inspections and seven reactive;
	2011: 46 planned inspections and 16 reactive; and
	2012: nine planned inspections and seven reactive.

Intellectual Property

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department has a role in development of policy on intellectual property.

Chris Grayling: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to PQ 101249 on 27 March 2012, Official Report, column 1043W.

Job Creation

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time jobs equivalent to 24 working hours or fewer each week have been created in (i) the UK, (ii) Scotland and (iii) each Scottish constituency in each month since May 2010.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	The information requested fails within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time jobs with the equivalent of 24 hours or less being worked each week have been created in (i) the UK, (ii) Scotland and (iii) each Scottish constituency in each month since May 2010. (109201)
	Estimates of new jobs created are not available. Information is available for net changes in level, which reflects both jobs lost and people who have been recruited into existing jobs that were vacant. Consequently this does not give any useful information regarding the actual level of new job creation.

National Employment Savings Trust Scheme

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the likely effects of the ban on transferring current pensions into the National Employment Savings Trust on the projected take-up of the scheme.

Steve Webb: NEST was established to support the introduction of automatic enrolment into workplace pensions by offering a simple, low-cost pension scheme to individuals on low to moderate earnings and employers that the existing pensions industry does not serve well.
	Individuals join NEST through an employer choosing to use the scheme to fulfil their automatic enrolment duties. DWP currently estimates that between 2 and 5 million people will be members of NEST by the end of the implementation of automatic enrolment. Assumptions on the likely take up of automatic enrolment are reviewed on a regular basis, including the estimated membership of NEST.
	The restrictions on transfers into and out of NEST are intended to ensure NEST is focussed on its target market; to minimise market turbulence during the implementation of the reforms; and to encourage continuity of savings among NEST members, who can continue to contribute to the scheme even when no longer employed. The Pensions Act 2008 requires the Secretary of State to review the effect of these restrictions in 2017.
	In its recent inquiry into automatic enrolment in workplace pensions and NEST, the Work and Pensions Select Committee recommended that the Government remove transfer restrictions on NEST, if State Aid rules allow this. We continue to reflect on the points made by the Committee, alongside responses to our recent consultation on improving transfers and dealing with small pension pots across the pensions industry. That consultation closed on 23 March 2012 and we intend to publish a response in the summer.

National Employment Savings Trust Scheme

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people he estimates 
	(1)  are likely to opt in to the National Employment Savings Trust instead of choosing an independent pension service within (a) one year and (b) five years of its implementation;
	(2)  will be automatically covered by the National Employment Savings Trust within (a) one year and (b) five years of its implementation;
	(3)  will enrol in the National Employment Savings Trust within (a) one year and (b) five years of its implementation.

Steve Webb: The information is not available in the format requested.
	The latest published participation estimates are in the impact assessments accompanying the Pensions Act 2011—Annex B: Workplace Pension Reform
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/pensions-bill-2011-ia-annexb.pdf, Annexe G
	Around 9 to 10 million people are expected to be eligible for automatic enrolment into a workplace pension scheme. Of these, we estimate that between 4 and 6 million will be automatically enrolled in NEST and, after accounting for people who opt out, that this will result in 2 to 5 million people saving in the NEST scheme.
	This includes around 0.5 million who were previously saving in existing forms of workplace pension scheme and 2 to 4 million newly saving in NEST. We estimate that between 1 and 2 million employees will opt-out from NEST.
	The figures are presented as broad ranges because there is inherent uncertainty around the participation estimates.

National Employment Savings Trust Scheme

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has undertaken an impact assessment of the effect of the implementation of the National Employment Savings Trust on independent pension (a) providers and (b) advisers.

Steve Webb: A full competition assessment of the impact of reforms on the pensions industry is set out in the Workplace Pension Reform Regulations—Impact Assessment, Department for Work and Pensions, January 2010. Chapter 5: Impact on Pension Industry
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/wpr-ia.pdf
	The Department carried out research with pension providers and advisors in 2008 and 2011 to assess the likely impact of the workplace pension reforms and NEST on the industry:
	Likely industry responses to the workplace pension reforms: Qualitative research with pension providers and intermediaries (2011)
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2011-2012/rrep753.pdf
	Pensions industry responses to the workplace pension reforms: Qualitative research with pension providers and intermediaries (2008)
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2009-2010/rrep592.pdf

National Employment Savings Trust Scheme

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  which pension providers were consulted as part of the review of the National Employment Savings Trust;
	(2)  whether any compulsory pension schemes in other countries were considered under the review of the National Employment Savings Trust;
	(3)  which (a) employers' groups, (b) trade associations and (c) business champions were consulted as part of the review of the National Employment Savings Trust.

Steve Webb: In June 2010, the coalition Government commissioned the independent "Making Automatic Enrolment Work" review to consider whether the automatic enrolment work reform package struck the right balance between costs, benefits and risk for individuals, for employers and for the tax payer, and whether the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) was necessary to support the successful delivery of automatic enrolment.
	The review team's report (“Making automatic enrolment work: a review for the Department for Work and Pensions”—Cm 7954) was published in October 2010 and copies are available in the House Library.

National Employment Savings Trust Scheme

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will review the annual limit on contributions within the National Employment Savings Trust to encourage wider participation.

Steve Webb: The Pensions Act 2008 requires the Secretary of State to review the annual limit on contributions in 2017.
	In October 2010, the coalition Government published the outcome of the independent "Making Automatic Enrolment Work" review. One of the recommendations made by the review was that the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) annual contributions limit be removed in 2017, once the reforms had been implemented.
	In its recent inquiry into automatic enrolment in workplace pensions and NEST, the Work and Pensions Select Committee recommended that the Government remove the annual contribution limit if state aid rules allow this.
	We continue to reflect on the points made by the Committee.

National Employment Savings Trust Scheme

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what research his Department has undertaken on the effect of compulsory minimum contributions for micro-enterprises as part of the National Employment Savings Trust.

Steve Webb: The Department has undertaken a programme of research and analysis to inform the development of the workplace pension reforms. The following published reports look at the effects of compulsory minimum contributions on micro-employers:
	Employers' attitudes and likely reactions to the workplace pension reforms, 2009:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2009-2010/rrep683.pdf
	Understanding small employers responses to the reforms (2009):
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2009-2010/rrep617.pdf
	Employers' attitudes and likely reactions to the workplace pension reforms 2007
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2007-2008/rrep546.pdf
	Understanding employers' likely responses to the workplace pension reforms 2007: report of a qualitative study:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2007-2008/rrep547.pdf
	Employer attitudes to personal accounts: Report of a quantitative survey (2006)
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2005-2006/rrep397.pdf
	In October 2010 the coalition Government published the outcome of the independent "Making Automatic Enrolment Work" review. The review considered the impact of the reforms on smaller employers. Copies of the review team's report (“Making automatic enrolment work: a review for the Department for Work and Pensions”—Cm 7954) are available in the House Library.
	Analysis of the impact of minimum employer contributions on micro employers is also contained in the impact assessments which accompanied the Workplace Pension Reform Regulations 2010
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/wpr-ia.pdf
	and the Pensions Act 2011
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/pensions-bill-2011-ia-annexb.pdf
	We remain committed to including micro-businesses within the automatic enrolment programme but in the light of current economic circumstances we have amended the employer staging profile to give micro businesses more time to prepare.

National Employment Savings Trust Scheme

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has assessed the potential effects of inflation on the likely level of pensions to be drawn under the National Employment Savings Trust.

Steve Webb: The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) is the responsibility of the trustee. Like any trustee, it will take into account a range of factors in determining its investment strategy.
	NEST's statement of investment principles, states that its investment objective is to target investment returns in excess of inflation after all charges over the long-term.
	http://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/NestWeb/public/aboutUs/contents/principles.html
	Levels of pensions that individuals draw from any qualifying defined contribution pension scheme will be dependent on a variety of factors such as the amount contributed, the length of time saved, the investment strategy and performance, whether an annuity or different product is purchased at retirement, and whether an annuity with inflation protection is chosen.

Personal Pensions

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to address the decline in the amounts saved in personal pensions in the last three years.

Steve Webb: Automatic enrolment into a workplace pension scheme, with a minimum employer contribution, is designed to address the problem of pensions undersaving and reverse the decline in scheme membership.
	In addition, the Government have announced that we will reform the state pensions system to introduce a single tier pension for future pensioners.
	These reforms will usher in a simpler and fairer system that reduces the need for means testing and better supports saving for retirement. We will provide further detail in a White Paper in the spring.
	Saving in a personal pension outside the workplace is a voluntary endeavour on the part of individuals and the level of savings will reflect individual circumstances and preferences. Government encourage pension saving (both in workplace and personal pensions) through the provision of tax relief on pension contributions, which provides an incentive to save.

Social Security Benefits

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if his Department will take steps to send benefit claimants a simple printed summary of their benefit entitlements, indicating how much they would lose as a result of the benefit cap; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: There are no plans to write to claimants with information about the possible financial impact for the household as their circumstances could change before the cap is implemented in April 2013.
	An online calculator will shortly be made available for claimants to use to assess the potential impact of the cap, based on their current circumstances. Claimants will need to have details of their benefit award available to use the calculator effectively.
	Details of benefit award are notified to a claimant when their claim is made and/or there has been a change in circumstances or rates. Claimants can also contact the Benefit Delivery Centre to obtain full details should they require them.

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of registered wheelchair users who (a) are currently entitled to higher rate disability living allowance and (b) will be eligible for the higher rate of personal independence payments from April 2013.

Maria Miller: This information is not available as we do not collect details of DLA recipients who may be registered wheelchair users.

Social Security Benefits: Scotland

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the number of claimants in Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency who will be affected by the benefits cap.

Chris Grayling: The information is not available for Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency.
	On 23 January 2012 the Department published an updated impact assessment for the household benefit cap, which estimated that in Great Britain 67,000 households would be affected by the cap, in the first year of its implementation (the financial year 2013-14). This assumes that the situation of these households will go unchanged, and they will not take any steps to either work enough hours to qualify for working tax credit, renegotiate their rent in situ, or find alternative accommodation. In all cases the Department is working to support households through-this transition, using existing provision through Jobcentre Plus and the work programme to move as many into work as possible.
	It is important to note that the estimates were produced before the additional easements announced on 1 February which included the exemption of households who were in receipt of the support component of employment and support allowance and a nine-month grace period for claimants who were in work for 52 weeks or more before the start of their claim. This means that these figures are subject to change.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many trade union representatives in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental bodies have faced disciplinary action for abusing paid facility time or public resources in each of the last five years.

Chris Grayling: The Department for Work and Pensions and its non-departmental public bodies collates information centrally on disciplinary cases but these data do not separately record cases involving TU representatives. This could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many meetings have taken place between (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental bodies and trade union representatives utilising paid facility time in each of the last five years to discuss (i) collective bargaining, (ii) redundancies, (iii) negotiations relating to employment, pay and conditions and (iv) other trade union and industrial relations duties; and what the dates and times were of each meeting.

Chris Grayling: I am unable to provide a full answer to your question as this information is not held centrally by my Department or non-departmental bodies with the exception of the Independent Living Fund whose information is as follows:
	Independent Living Fund
	Meetings to discuss collective bargaining:
	22 February 2007 at 2.00 pm
	10 May 2007 at 10.30 am
	18 June 2007 at 10.00 am
	13 September 2007 at 10.00 am
	31 January 2008 at 10.00 am
	1 May 2008 at 10.30 am
	8 October 2008 at 10.30 am
	22 January 2009 at 11.00 am
	5 March 2009 at 10.30 am
	1 October 2009 at 10.30 am
	5 November 2009 at 10.00 am
	3 December 2009 at 10.00 am
	11 February 2010 at 2.00 pm
	7 April 2011 at 2.00 pm
	25 May 2010 at2.00 pm
	20 July 2010 at 2.00 pm
	21 September 2010 at 2.00 pm
	9 November 2010 at 10.00 am
	16 November 2010 at 2.00 pm
	10 March 2011 at 2.00 pm
	5 May 2011 at 2.00 pm
	22 September 2011 at 2.00 pm
	20 October 2011 at 2.00 pm
	23 November 2011 at 11.00 am
	21 December 2011 at 10.30 am
	15 March 2012 at 10.45 am
	Meetings to discuss redundancies:
	8 November 2010 at 10.00 am-12.10 pm
	6 December 2010 at 2.30 pm-4.10 pm
	7 January 2011 at 10.30 am-12.55 pm
	1 February 2011 at 1.30 pm-3.20 pm
	26 April 2011 at 1.00 pm-2.00 pm
	Total five meetings
	Meetings to discuss negotiations relating to employment, pay and conditions:
	19 September 2009 at 10.00 am
	11 February 2010 at 10.00am
	23 February 2010 at 1.00 pm
	25 February 2010 at 12.00 pm
	9 November 2010 at 10.00 am
	11 November 2010 at 2.00 pm
	11 July 2011 at 11.00 am
	26 July 2011 at 11.30 am
	Meetings to discuss other trade union and industrial relations duties:
	No records held.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on how many occasions trade union representatives from (a) his Department and (b) each of the non-departmental public bodies have utilised paid facility time to represent an employee at a meeting or other industrial relations matter in each of the last five years.

Chris Grayling: The Department for Work and Pensions and its non-departmental public bodies do not hold this information centrally and it could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of claimants he expects to use the online system for claiming universal credit.

Chris Grayling: We expect the proportion of claimants who use the online system, to be in line with published Cabinet Office guidelines of 80% from 2017 onwards. Initial take-up is expected to be lower and build towards the target.

Universal Credit

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of people claiming benefits and who may be eligible to claim universal credit who do not have access to the internet in their homes.

Chris Grayling: DWP is working to develop data on home internet access that includes all access channels; however we do not currently hold this information.

Visual Impairment

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many registered blind people are employed by his Department.

Chris Grayling: The Department does not hold information on how many of its employees are registered blind.
	The Department can confirm that there are 61 employees registered as users of JAWS software (see note). All of these employees are either blind or have a significant visual impairment.
	Out of those employees who have chosen to indicate their disability status to the Department, 6.5% have declared that they are disabled.
	Note
	JAWS software—JAWS (Job Access With Speech), is a screen reader suitable for visually impaired people. JAWS reads the contents of the screen, either as speech output or via a refreshable Braille display it works with most standard software applications such as Windows based programs and can be customised via its own scripting language to provide a bespoke solution for individuals.

Work Capability Assessment

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he intends to commence the gold standard review of the (a) new mental health descriptors and (b) new fluctuating conditions descriptors in the work capability assessment.

Chris Grayling: We have been working to develop proposals for the evidence-based review since the publication of Professor Harrington's second independent review of the WCA.
	Departmental officials have been considering the best way to evaluate the proposed descriptors, and have been and continue to discuss these with the charities.
	Our aim is to carry out the evidence-based review for both the mental, intellectual and cognitive descriptors and the fluctuating conditions descriptors which have been proposed by the charities at the same time.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's total level of carbon emissions was between (a) 1 April 2010 and 1 April 2011 and (b) 2 April 2011 and 1 April 2012.

David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) carbon emissions in the period 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011, from sources within the scope of the Greener Government Commitments (GGC), were 19,542 tCO2.
	The FCO's carbon emissions in the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012, from sources within the scope of the GGC, were 17,039 tC02, a 13% decrease.

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what measures his Department introduced to reduce its carbon emissions in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) implemented the following carbon reduction measures in:
	(a) 2010
	Converted some Hanslope Park boilers to run off zero carbon non-food crop bio-fuel
	Activated power-saving settings on desk tops
	Reduced office heating temperature by two degrees Centigrade
	Decommissioned two energy inefficient pre-fabricated buildings
	Installed voltage regulation equipment at Hanslope Park and in the Old Admiralty Building
	Replaced some official cars with hybrid electric cars
	Purchased aerodynamic trailers for the lorry fleet
	(b) 2011
	Conducted a staff energy awareness/switch off campaign
	Installed voltage regulation equipment in King Charles Street Head Quarters
	Converted most remaining Hanslope Park boilers to run off bio-fuel
	Installed variable speed drives/inverters in our King Charles Street building
	Insulated plant pipe-work in our King Charles Street building
	(c) 2012
	Conducted a staff energy awareness/switch off campaign
	Installed further voltage regulation equipment in King Charles Street
	Installed further variable speed drives/invertors in King Charles Street
	Installed more energy efficient lighting in King Charles Street and at Hanslope Park

Ethiopia

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department has set any benchmarks to assess the Ethiopian Government's respect for human rights (a) in the Gambella region and (b) under its villagisation programme.

Henry Bellingham: The UK takes allegations of human rights abuses extremely seriously. The UK has led multi-agency missions, independent from the Ethiopian Government, to Gambella and the Somalia region, two of the four regions affected by the villagisation programme. The missions found no evidence of systematic or widespread human rights abuses. We have raised concerns with the Government of Ethiopia that resettlement has been poorly planned, and that destination sites often do not have facilities such as schools and health centres in place before people move. While we have not set any formal benchmarks, the UK will continue to monitor closely the situation in Gambella and other regions affected by the villagisation programme and will use a common methodology for these assessments. We will also maintain our ongoing dialogue with the Ethiopian Government over the implementation of the commune programme.

Gibraltar: Spain

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on delays for cross border travel between Spain and Gibraltar in recent days; and what assessment he has made of the reasons for such delays.

David Lidington: We are concerned by the disruption to cross border travel between Spain and Gibraltar which is the result of detailed scrutiny by the Spanish authorities of vehicles leaving Gibraltar. We are aware that there have been delays of up to three hours for those crossing the border. We continue to receive daily updates from the Governor of Gibraltar's Office and are discussing the situation with the Spanish Government. It is in the interests of communities on both sides of the border that the border functions efficiently.

Israel

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to extend the UK's labelling guidelines to all produce from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

James Paice: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
	The DEFRA labelling guidelines to which the hon. Member refers do already apply to all imports into the United Kingdom of fresh produce, food and drink originating in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Israel

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions has he had with Israeli authorities on the arrest and detention of Palestinian children.

Alistair Burt: We welcomed Israel's decision of 4 October 2011 to raise the age of legal majority for Palestinian children in the Israeli military justice system, a step we had advocated. I raised the implementation of this decision with the Israeli ambassador to London on 23 February.
	We continue to call on the Israeli authorities to comply with their obligations under international law, including in their policies on detention and the treatment of Palestinian prisoners. We also continue to lobby the Israeli authorities for further improvements, including a reduction in the number of arrests that occur at night, an end to shackling and the introduction of audio-visual recording of interrogations.
	We discuss Israel's policies on arrest and detention regularly, most recently in the past month with the Israeli Ministry for Foreign Affairs, National Security Council, Israeli Prison Service and office of the Co-ordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.

Israel

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will support the position of Defence for Children International on the detention of Palestinian children by Israel.

Alistair Burt: The British Government support the valuable work done by Defence for Children International in highlighting the issues of detention of Palestinian children. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been pleased to provided funding for the work of Defence for Children International in the recent past.
	We have also funded a report by leading UK and international lawyers on child detainees, including how far Israeli military law complies with international standards in respect of child detentions. Together with several stakeholders, Defence for Children International is co-operating in the production of the report, which is expected imminently.

Lost Property

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more his Department lost in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: I refer the hon. Member to my response of 22 March 2012, Official Report, column 793W.

Departmental Staff

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  how many full-time equivalent employees his Department employed in May 2010; and how many it employed in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many full-time equivalent employees have (a) left and (b) been recruited to his Department in the last two years.

Henry Bellingham: In May 2010 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) had around 5,000 UK based staff. Since then nearly 500 staff have joined the Department and over 900 have left, reducing overall strength to just under 4,600, a reduction of over 400. It is not possible to give more precise figures as the basis on which we report staff numbers has changed since 2010.
	Since 2010 the FCO has complied with the civil service recruitment freeze, among other things, sourcing staff from other Government Departments.

Ministerial Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what dates (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) senior officials in his Department have met representatives of (i) the Institute for Public Policy Research, (ii) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) ResPublica, (v) the Centre for Social Justice and (vi) Policy Exchange; and if he will publish the minutes and agendas of these meetings.

David Lidington: As part of HM Government's commitment to transparency, each Government Department publishes on a quarterly basis information on hospitality, gifts, meeting and overseas travel for Ministers', Special Advisers' and the Permanent Under-Secretary. Information for Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) meetings can be found at:
	http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/publications-and-documents/transparency-and-data1/hospitality/
	Records of all meetings attended by the FCO's senior officials both in the UK and in our network of diplomatic posts overseas are not held centrally and cannot be searched without incurring disproportionate cost.

Redundancy

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many of his Department's employees have been made redundant in the last two years.

Henry Bellingham: In the last two years one employee has been made redundant. A total of 221 staff have left the Foreign and Commonwealth Office under various voluntary exit schemes launched within the last two financial years.

EDUCATION

Academies: Primary Education

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what school performance criteria over how many years are taken into account when deciding whether an official in his Department initiates contact with a primary school to discuss possible conversion to academy status;
	(2)  in how many cases his Department has (a) initiated contact with primary schools regarding possible conversion to academy status and (b) recommended a solution other than academy status following such an approach.

Nick Gibb: The Department analyses a range of performance information, including national curriculum test results from at least the last five years and Ofsted inspection reports, to identify primary schools that are underperforming. Discussions with local authorities provide further local intelligence about the performance and capacity of primary schools in the area.
	Departmental officials have initiated conversations with primary schools that have been identified in this way. In most cases, contact is made via the local authority and they remain involved in conversations to agree the most appropriate route to academy status to secure improvement at the school.
	When an academy solution is agreed for a primary school, the name of the school will be added to the Department's published list of sponsored academies in development. This is available on the Department's website at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/academies/b00208569/open-academies/sponsored-academies

Children's Commissioner for England

Karl McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Office of the Children's Commissioner's objective to promote awareness of the views and interests of children in England;
	(2)  on what basis John Dunford was selected to conduct a review of the work of the Office of the Children's Commissioner;
	(3)  how much John Dunford was paid to conduct a review of the work of the Office of the Children's Commissioner;
	(4)  whether Ministers in his Department have had any recent meetings with the Office of the Children's Commissioner;
	(5)  what the total cost was of John Dunford's review of the work of the Office of the Children's Commissioner.

Sarah Teather: holding answer 23 May 2012
	John Dunford was chosen to lead the independent review of the Children's Commissioner due to his extensive leadership experience within education and children's services (including 12 years as General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders). At the same time, his limited association with the children's rights sector meant he was able to approach the task without any preconceptions about its outcome. He was paid just under £26,000 to complete the review, including expenses. The total cost of the review was just over £38,000.
	In his report, John Dunford recognised that the Children's Commissioner had had a significant impact on the lives of some children and young people, but that overall the impact had been disappointing. He attributed this in part to the limitations of the existing legislation. That is why the Government has set out its intention to legislate to reform the Office of the Children's Commissioner, along the lines that John Dunford recommended.
	The Children's Commissioner met the Secretary of State for Education for an ad hoc meeting in November 2011. In addition, I meet the Children's Commissioner approximately every six months for a general stock take. The Commissioner meets other Ministers from DFE (and across Government) in connection with specific investigations and inquiries that the Commissioner is undertaking. For example, in the last six months, she has met: the Minister for Schools, the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Mr Gibb), to discuss the Commissioner's inquiry into school exclusions; and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton), to discuss the inquiry into child sexual exploitation by groups and gangs.

First Aid: Curriculum

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the merits of making the teaching of emergency life support skills a formal part of the national curriculum.

Nick Gibb: The non-statutory programmes of study for Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education currently include provision for the teaching of emergency life support skills.
	As part of the current PSHE education review we are considering whether any non-statutory elements of the subject should become a statutory requirement within the basic curriculum, as sex education is now. We intend to publish the review outcomes later this year.
	We do not however believe that emergency life support skills should be formally prescribed in the national curriculum.
	The national curriculum should only specify the core content of key subjects, leaving teachers greater flexibility to use their professional judgment to decide the wider school curricula that best meet the needs of their pupils.

Literacy

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to improve the accuracy of the grammar, punctuation and spelling of schoolchildren.

Nick Gibb: The Government are taking a number of steps to improve the accuracy of grammar, punctuation and spelling. Mastering these basic skills is a vital part of all pupils' education.
	A new Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling test at Key Stage 2 will be introduced in 2013. The new test will place an increased focus on this area and encourage good teaching. We are also recognising the importance of grammar, punctuation and spelling across subjects by reintroducing specific marks in GCSEs with a significant proportion of written assessment.
	In addition, strengthening the approach to these essential skills will be a priority within the new National Curriculum, which we expect to consult on before the summer.

Schools: Sanitation

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment has been made of the standard of school toilet facilities; and whether any assessment has been made of any relationship to the incidence of continence problems in young people.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 22 May 2012
	The Department has not made an assessment of the standard of school toilet facilities, but is aware of a number of studies in this area. These were referred to by several respondents to the recent consultation on the proposed new School Premises Regulations.
	The Department has not made an assessment of any possible relationship between school toilet standards and continence problems in young people, but has received details of studies carried out by other bodies. These were included in responses to the consultation and are currently being analysed.

Secondary Education: Birmingham

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many vacant secondary school places there were in (a) Birmingham, Ladywood constituency and (b) Birmingham City Council in each of the last five years for which information is available.

Nick Gibb: The Department collects information from each local authority on the number of unfilled places in maintained secondary schools (except special schools) via an annual survey. The following table shows the number of unfilled places in maintained secondary schools in Birmingham between 2007 and 2011, which is the most recent data available. The number of unfilled places are reported at local authority level and not broken down by constituency.
	
		
			 Unfilled places in maintained secondary schools (figures for 2010 and 2011 include unfilled places in academies): Birmingham 
			  Total 
			 2007(1) 3,107 
			 2008(1) 3,543 
			 2009(1) 3,823 
			 2010(2) 4,026 
			 2011(2) 4,827 
			 (1) Number of places relate to the position as at January. (2) Number of places relate to the position as at May. Source: Surplus Places Survey and School Capacity Collection

Teachers: Pensions

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance he (a) has issued and (b) plans to issue to education authorities on (i) the time period to be used for the conversion of Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds in the case of schools seeking conversion to academy status, (ii) variations in calculation criteria and time periods which are used by local authorities and (iii) the process to be followed by local authorities to ensure that schools converting to academies are able to enter pooling arrangements for LGPS.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 21 May 2012
	In December 2011, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and the Secretary of State for Education issued a joint letter to local government leaders, chief executives, and LGPS administering authorities recommending that where an Academy wishes to be pooled with the local authority, the administering authority positively considers this. Guidance for practitioners was promised in the joint letter and the first edition was issued on 29 February. This guidance will be expanded to include more detailed information about the pooling process in the second edition, to be published by the end of the month. Further guidance will be developed as necessary.

Teachers: Training

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent estimate he has made of the drop-out rate for (a) initial teacher training and (b) the Teach First programme.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 23 May 2012
	The proportion of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) trainees who leave their course at any point within their training is not collected centrally.
	Complete data are collected for the numbers of trainees in England who leave their course during their final year. The following tables show these proportions for academic years 2005/06 to 2009/10 for all ITT routes and the Teach First programme. The proportion of trainees who were awarded Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in each year is also provided.
	
		
			 Table A: Rates of leaving and QTS achievement for all ITT trainees (including those on the Teach First programme) in their final year from 2005/06 to 2009/10 in England 
			  Total number of trainees Left course before end (percentage) QTS attained (percentage) 
			 2005/06 38,190 5 87 
			 2006/07 39,190 4 87 
			 2007/08 37,450 4 88 
			 2008/09 37,590 4 88 
			 2009/10 38,970 4 89 
		
	
	
		
			 Table B: Rates of leaving and QTS achievement for Teach First programme trainees in their final year from 2005/06 to 2009/10 in England 
			  Total number of trainees Left course before end (percentage) QTS attained (percentage) 
			 2005/06 160 6 93 
			 2006/07 210 (1)— 97 
			 2007/08 290 (1)— 96 
			 2008/09 380 3 95 
			 2009/10 470 5 95 
			 (1) Indicates suppression due to small numbers. Notes: 1 Total trainee figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and percentages are rounded to the nearest 1%. 2 The Teach First programme is considered to be a type of ITT. Consequently, trainees on this programme are included in both tables. 3 Percentages do not sum to 100% as other outcomes are possible, such as trainees being withheld QTS and not yet completing their course. Source: Teaching Agency Performance Profiles

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Carbon Emissions: Housing

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many dwellings have been treated under the carbon emissions reduction target to date.

Gregory Barker: Latest available data(1) show that, as of 30 September 2011, over 3.1 million dwellings in Great Britain had received professionally installed loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, or both under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) since April 2008. This does not include dwellings treated with solid wall insulation, DIY loft insulation or any of the non-insulation measures delivered under CERT.
	(1) Energy Saving Trust statistical release:
	www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Publications2/Housing-professionals/HEED-PDFs/HEED-publications-for-UK/CERT-Summary-Report-Q14-by-English-Region-Scotland-Wales

Energy: Prices

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what proportion of pensioner households in receipt of the one-off £120 discount from energy companies received that discount on a discretionary basis in the latest period for which figures are available.

Gregory Barker: We expect that in excess of 660,000 low income pensioners will have received a £120 discount on their electricity bills from energy suppliers as part of the warm home discount scheme (core group) in winter 2011-12. The application of the core group discount is not discretionary. Energy suppliers are required to apply this discount through the Warm Home Discount Regulations 2011.
	Final numbers for the whole scheme will be available later in autumn 2012 when the compliance phase has been undertaken.

Energy: Prices

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the number of pensioners in receipt of the one-off £120 discount from energy companies under the Warm Front Discount Scheme in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11.

Gregory Barker: The warm home discount commenced in April 2011. The first discounts were credited to accounts in winter 2011-12. Energy suppliers were informed of nearly 600,000 pensioners to be credited with an automatic discount. Additionally, over 60,000 pensioners who were not automatically matched through the scheme claimed via the dedicated Government call centre. The final number of pensioners who received a discount will be known following the compliance phase of the scheme.
	In 2010-11 there was a pilot data matching scheme called the Energy Rebate Scheme. This was funded through Government's 2008-11 voluntary agreement with energy suppliers. As a result of the pilot, just over 200,000 pensioners were provided with a one-off £80 electricity bill rebate.

Green Deal Scheme

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what timetable he has set for implementation of the Green Deal.

Gregory Barker: The timetable for implementing the Green Deal remains on track and we will be bringing our regulations to the House shortly.

Green Deal Scheme

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the cost has been of advertising and promotion of the Green Deal.

Gregory Barker: No money has been spent on advertising and promoting the Green Deal to consumers.

Green Deal Scheme

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what consideration he has given to the potential contribution of employer-supported employee benefits to the Green Deal by providing for green home improvements through salary sacrifice.

Gregory Barker: We continue to explore a number of different demand levers to encourage uptake of the Green Deal, focusing on delivering good value for money from the £200 million allocated to drive early take-up. Any proposals that would result in foregone tax revenues would need to be considered very carefully with regard to the Government's wider priority of reducing the deficit.

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the oral answer of 17 May 2012, Official Report, column 675, on the Green Deal, when he plans to publish the proposed secondary legislation for the Green Deal.

Gregory Barker: We expect to publish the secondary legislation for the Green Deal in June 2012.

Hunterston B Power Station

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he last met the Office for Nuclear Regulation to discuss safety regulations at the Hunterston B nuclear power plant.

Charles Hendry: My officials and I have met with Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) staff on a number of occasions; however, these meetings do not concern issues at individual sites, such as Hunterston B, as these are a matter for the ONR as the independent nuclear safety regulator.

Hunterston B Power Station

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he has received any representations from Michael Russell MSP in relation to fire safety at Hunterston B power station.

Charles Hendry: Michael Russell MSP wrote to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on behalf of his constituent on 29 February 2012. On 4 April 2012, the Minister of State for Employment, my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) wrote to Michael Russell MSP addressing his constituent's concerns about fire safety at Hunterston B Power Station and Sizewell B Power Station.

Hunterston B Power Station

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he has received any representations from the Scottish Government on fire safety at Hunterston B power station.

Charles Hendry: No.

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effect on renewable energy installation companies of changes to feed-in tariffs due to come into force in 2012.

Gregory Barker: We want to put the feed-in tariffs (FITs) scheme on a sustainable footing by rebalancing the tariffs on the basis of evidence of reduced costs. We will shortly be announcing our decisions on a degression policy which will provide the certainty the industry needs and help build a long term future for the UK solar industry.
	Since September 2011, 1,669 new renewable energy installation companies have been registered as MCS accredited installers, bringing the total to 4,891 MCS registered installers.

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the number of renewable energy installation companies affected by changes to feed-in tariffs since September 2011.

Gregory Barker: Since September 2011, 1,611 new PV installation companies have been registered as MCS accredited installers, bringing the total to 4,221 MCS registered installers.

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the oral answer of 17 May 2012, Official Report, column 672, on feed-in tariffs, when the orders for the next reduction in tariff level would need to be laid for them to have effect by 1 July 2012.

Gregory Barker: The tariffs payable under the feed-in tariffs scheme are set within the Standard Conditions of Electricity Supply Licences.
	As required by the Energy Act 2008, draft modifications to those licence conditions were laid in Parliament on 24 May 2012 with the intention that they will come into effect on 1 August 2012 and reduce tariffs for solar photovoltaic installations which become eligible for feed-in tariffs from that date. The latest date for laying the changes before Parliament so as to take effect on 1 August would have been 15 June 2012.

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the oral answer of 17 May 2012, Official Report, column 672, on feed-in tariffs, what the start date for the next tariff reduction will be.

Gregory Barker: The date for the next reduction of the tariffs for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations will be 1 August 2012. This was set out in the response to the consultation on the solar PV tariffs and cost control mechanism which was published on 24 May 2012.

Renewable UK

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether any staff of his Department have previously worked for Renewable UK.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) does not hold details of the previous employment of its staff on a central database. Searching individual records to find this information would incur disproportionate costs.

Renewable UK

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether any former directors of Renewable UK have been employed by his Department as consultants or advisers in the last five years; how much any such consultants were paid; and when they were employed.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) does not hold details of the previous employment of its staff on a central database. Searching individual records to find this information would incur disproportionate costs.

Warm Front Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the oral answer of 17 May 2012, Official Report, column 1686, on energy efficiency, what the evidential basis is for the statement that Opposition hon. Members said that Warm Front had closed last winter and was no longer available.

Gregory Barker: Anecdotally a misleading impression was given by commentators regarding the closure of Warm Front in December 2010. At that time, the Government announced a temporary closure of Warm Front owing to the full use of the available budget for the financial year 2010-11. The scheme reopened in April 2011 and funding continues to be available.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department has taken to monitor the application of the warm homes discount scheme.

Gregory Barker: Energy suppliers participating the warm home discount scheme are required to report on their spending under the scheme after the end of each scheme year to Ofgem who have a statutory duty to monitor suppliers' compliance with the scheme regulations. Ofgem will provide an annual report to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, once the necessary compliance and audit checks have been completed.

Wind Power

Nigel Adams: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether it remains his policy to have 13GW of onshore wind capacity by 2020.

Charles Hendry: Yes. Our policy remains as set out in the Renewable Energy Roadmap(1) which includes a projected central scenario of up to 13GW total installed capacity of onshore wind by 2020. We consider that onshore wind is essential to delivering UK security of supply and other goals. We are determined to do this in ways that offer maximum value for money for consumer spend and put the least possible pressures on energy bills.
	The Government's planning and other reforms give communities a real say and stake in shaping the development of their local areas. As I have already said, we believe that 13GW onshore wind by 2020 is manageable given that 5GW is already up and running, 6GW is consented and there is a further 7GW in the planning system. Not everything consented will be built, and not everything in the planning system deserves to be consented, so there will be new project proposals to come, but the investment the country needs in this technology is already largely on the table.
	(1 )The UK's Renewable Energy Roadmap was published by DECC in July 2011 and can be viewed at:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/meeting-energy-demand/renewable-energy/2167-uk-renewable-energy-roadmap.pdf

Wind Power

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his policy is on the proposed wind power interconnector between the UK and Denmark.

Charles Hendry: The Government support greater interconnection, as this should promote the integration of renewable energy sources, contribute to security of supply and help bring more competition to EU energy markets. Interconnection between countries with high ambitions for offshore wind, such as the UK and Denmark, could in time form part of a more integrated offshore grid in the North Sea. We and nine other countries are investigating the potential for such a grid in the North Sea Offshore Countries' Grid Initiative.

CABINET OFFICE

Big Society Capital

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many loans he expects Big Society Capital to make in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15; what the estimated monetary value is of such loans; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: Big Society Capital (BSC), which is an independent organisation, acts as a wholesale investor for social investment. It provides finance to specialist funds and intermediaries who then provide finance and other support to social sector organisations.
	BSC will make investments and provide support to the social investment market on the basis of future needs and demands.

Business

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people were employed in the (a) micro, (b) small and (c) medium-sized business sector in (i) Newton Abbot constituency and (ii) the South West in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck dated 15 May 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many people were employed in the (a) micro, (b) small and (c) medium-sized business sector in (i) Newton Abbot constituency and (ii) the South West in the latest period for which figures are available.
	Annual statistics on the number of employees are available from the ONS release Business Register Employment Survey (BRES) at www.statistics.gov.uk. However, it is not possible to derive a breakdown by employment size band from BRES. The table below contains the latest statistics available, which show the number of employees in Newton Abbot and the South West for 2010.
	
		
			 Area 2010 
			 South West 2,257,200 
			 Newton Abbot (1)27,000 
			 (1 )These figures exclude farm agriculture (SIC class 0100) have been excluded.

Business

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many businesses in (a) Newton Abbot constituency, (b) the South West and (c) England employed fewer than five people in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck dated 14 May 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many businesses in (a) Newton Abbot constituency, (b) the South West and (c) England employed fewer than five people in the latest period for which figures are available.
	Annual statistics on the number of enterprises are available from the ONS release UK Business: Activity, Size and Location at www.statistics.gov.uk. The table below contains the latest statistics available, which show the number of enterprises in England, South West and Newton Abbot by employee size band of 0 - 4.
	
		
			  Employee Size 0-4 
			 England 1,627,495 
			 South West 154,745 
			 Newton Abbot 2,195 
			 Note: The above figures have been rounded to the nearest five, to avoid disclosure.

Business

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will estimate the number of (a) micro, (b) small and (c) medium-sized businesses in (i) Newton Abbot constituency and (ii) the south-west in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated 14 May 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what recent estimate has been made of the number of (a) micro, (b) small and (c) medium-sized businesses in (i) Newton Abbot constituency and (ii) the South West in the latest period for which figures are available.
	Annual statistics on the number of enterprises are available from the ONS release UK Business: Activity, Size and Location at:
	www.statistics.gov.uk
	The following table contains the latest statistics available that show the number of enterprises in the South West and Newton Abbot by employee size band.
	
		
			 Count of enterprises in the South West and Newton Abbot by employee size bands for 2011 
			  0-9 (micro) 10-49 (small) 50-249 (medium) Total 
			 South West 176,610 16,700 2.680 195,990 
			 Newton Abbot 2,540 285 50 2,875 
			 Note: The above figures have been rounded to the nearest five, to avoid disclosure.

Charity Commission

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many investigations into the activities of UK-registered charities were launched by the Charity Commission in 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.
	Letter from Sam Younger dated 23 May 2012
	.
	The Charity Commission is the regulator of charities in England and Wales. Charities in Scotland and Northern Ireland are regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) and the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI) respectively.
	The Commission's current approach to dealing with regulatory concerns is set out and explained in our new Risk Framework, available on our website:
	http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Our_regulatory_ activity/Our_approach/Risk_framework.aspx
	If something goes wrong in a charity, we expect the trustees to take responsibility for putting things right. Where there are serious concerns of abuse in a charity, we may investigate and open a statutory inquiry. This is likely to be in the most cases where the regulatory issue is in itself serious and there is evidence or strong suspicion of mismanagement or misconduct in a charity. Where we open a statutory inquiry, we may make use of our formal investigatory powers, for instance to obtain documents, freeze bank accounts and remove trustees. Serious concerns about charities that are not dealt with in statutory inquiries are handled as regulatory cases within our Operations teams.
	In the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012, we opened 12 statutory inquires. We also completed nine statutory inquiries and 76 other investigations, dealt with as regulatory compliance cases.
	Each year we report on our regulatory and compliance work through the publication Back on Track, available on our website. This sets out headline performance figures for this area as well as themes and lessons for other charities and the wider sector. Back on Track for 2011-12 will be published in early Autumn.

Charity Commission

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office with reference to the answer of 17 October 2011, Official Report, column 720W, on the Charity Commission: manpower, how many staff at the Charity Commission were employed to investigate complaints against UK registered charities in 2011-12; how many will be employed to do so in 2012-13; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.
	Letter from Sam Younger, dated 23 May 2012
	I have been asked to reply to your Written Parliamentary Question with reference to the Answer of 17 October 2011, Official Report, column 720W, on Charity Commission: Manpower, how many staff at the Charity Commission were employed to investigate complaints against UK registered charities in 2011-12; how many will be employed to do so in 2012-13.
	The Charity Commission is the regulator of charities in England and Wales. Charities in Scotland and Northern Ireland are regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) and the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI) respectively.
	The numbers of the staff investigating complaints in 2011-12 and 2012-13 are 29 in the Investigations and Enforcement team and 61 in the four Operations teams. At any one time, not all of these staff will be investigating complaints and some will also be undertaking other regulatory tasks such as providing advice, consents and permissions.
	The Commission regularly reviews its staffing requirements but at this stage estimated numbers of staff for2013-14 are the same as for this financial year.

Efficiency and Reform Group

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the cost to the public purse was of the Reward, Efficiency and Reform Group in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and what estimate he has made of the cost of the Group in (i) 2012-13, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15.

Francis Maude: There is no Reward, Efficiency and Reform Group within my Department.
	However, to address the record deficit which this Government inherited in May 2010 my Department formed an Efficiency and Reform Group.
	Since May 2010 the Group has helped Departments make billions of pounds of cash savings which have been corroborated by auditors including the NAO. While the Group saved the taxpayer £3.75 billion in 2010-11, the savings for 2011-12 are anticipated to be even higher and around £5 billion. During this period the core cost of running the Group fell by 38%, demonstrating that this Group is leading by example.
	My Department's budgets are published and updated through the parliamentary estimates process.

Hay Group

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what contracts his Department has with Hay Group; and what the value of each such contract is.

Francis Maude: My Department has one contact with Hay Group which was initially let in January 2010 for the value of £159,000 (excluding VAT) over three years.

Departmental Staff

John Redwood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  how many full-time equivalent employees have (a) left and (b) been recruited to his Department in the last two years;
	(2)  how many full-time equivalent employees his Department employed in May 2010; and how many it employed in the latest period for which figures are available.

Francis Maude: In May 2010, the Cabinet Office employed 1,305 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff.
	As a result of machinery of government changes my Department has taken over various new functions from other Government Departments. Since May 2010, the Office of Government Commerce, Central Office of Information, National School of Government, Government Property Unit, Constitution Group, Boundary Commission for England, Government Digital Service and the Government Procurement Service all joined the Cabinet Office, along with 1,915 FTE staff.
	New functions within my Department are also running with a smaller headcount. Since its creation in June 2010 the Efficiency and Reform Group's headcount has reduced by 27%.
	At 31 March 2012 my Department employed 2,451 FTE staff—this represents a net reduction of 769 over the May 2010 figure and the headcount who joined as a result of machinery of government changes. The closure of the National School of Government and COI in March 2012 will result in further headcount reductions in due course.

Public Sector Mutuals

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun-off by his Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how the funding for the Mutual Support Programme has been spent to date; which organisations have received funding; how much they received; what results they are required to achieve; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: MyCSP, which administers the Civil Service Pension Scheme, launched in April 2012 as a pathfinder mutual joint venture spinning out from Cabinet Office.
	The Cabinet Office's role in the creation of mutuals across the wider public sector is to provide a comprehensive programme of support:
	In December 2011, we launched the £10 million Mutuals Support Programme, comprising a website, dedicated hotline and the funds.
	Rather than handing out money the Mutuals Support Programme procures suppliers to deliver the support needed for organisations interested in spinning out into a mutual. This way tools and learning can be shared for the benefit of others wishing to spin out of the public sector.
	A contract for support is agreed, on the basis of meeting stated criteria, and published on Contracts Finder:
	http://www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/
	Information on the programme will be published shortly on the Mutuals Information Service:
	http://mutuals.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/
	In 2010-11 the coalition Government announced a Mutual Pathfinder Programme of 21 projects, eight of which have already spun out, with a further series of launches due this year.
	Through this work, Cabinet Office is driving the creation of new mutuals led by entrepreneurial public sector staff who want to take control of their services. These projects are playing a vital role in enabling Government to learn and share lessons from the front line as to how to encourage mutuals on an ongoing basis.

Unemployment

William Bain: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people aged (a) 25 years and over and (b) 16 to 24 years had been unemployed for more than a year in May (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012 in (A) the UK, (B) Scotland and (C) each Scottish constituency.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people aged (a) 25 and over and (b) 16-24 were unemployed for more than a year in May (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012 in (A) the UK, (B) Scotland and (C) each Scottish constituency. (109257)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles unemployment statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions. Estimates of unemployment for the requested age group are not available for parliamentary constituencies.
	Table 1 shows the number of people aged 25 and over and 16 to 24 years who were unemployed and resident in Scotland and the United Kingdom for the 12 month periods ending September 2010 and September 2011 from the APS, the most recent periods for which figures are available. Data for 2012 is not yet available.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of people unemployed for over 12 months 
			 Thousand 
			  12 months ending 
			  September 2010 September 2011 
			  25 and over 16 to 24 years 25 and over 16 to 24 years 
			 Scotland 42 18 **46 ***21 
			 United Kingdom 524 202 *585 *233 
			 Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. CVs are not produced for earlier periods. Key: * 0 ≤ CV<5%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise ** 5 ≤ CV <10%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 ≤ CV <20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV ≥ 20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes CV = Coefficient of Variation Source: Annual Population Survey and Annual Labour Force Survey

Unemployment

William Bain: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of (a) the number of people currently in receipt of jobseeker's allowance and unemployed using International Labour Organisation definitions who are looking for full-time work and (b) people who are either unemployed, employed or in self-employment are seeking full-time employment in (i) the UK, (ii) Scotland and (iii) each Scottish constituency.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated May 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people (a) currently in receipt of jobseekers' allowance and unemployed using International Labour Organisation definitions are looking for full-time work and (b) whether unemployed, employed or in self-employment are seeking full-time employment in (i) the UK, (ii) Scotland and (iii) each Scottish constituency. (109258)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles labour market statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS). However, due to the size of the samples involved the requested estimates for Scottish Constituencies are not available.
	The estimates of the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) from APS are generally lower than the official measure published by ONS. However, APS is the only source that gives information on claimants of JSA, employment status and the nature of work sought.
	Table 1 shows the number of people who reported themselves as claiming JSA and who were ILO unemployed and seeking full-time employment, from the October 2010 to September 2011 APS.
	Table 2 shows the number of people who were unemployed, employed or self-employed seeking full-time employment from the October to September 2011 APS. These estimates include those who are currently in full-time employment and would like a different full-time job.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates has been provided.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website a:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance and ILO unemployed seeking full-time employment, October 2010 to September 2011 
			  Number (thousand) 
			 Scotland *85 
			 UK *883 
			 Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key: * 0 ≤ CV<5%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise ** 5 ≤ CV <10%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 ≤ CV <20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV ≤ 20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes Source: Annual Population Survey 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Number of people who were unemployed, employed or in self-employment seeking full-time employment, October 2010 to September 2011 
			  Number (thousand) 
			 Scotland *280 
		
	
	
		
			 UK *3,387 
			 Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key: * 0 ≤ CV<5%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise ** 5 ≤ CV <10%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 ≤ CV <20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV ≥20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes Source: Annual Population Survey

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Electoral Register

Chris Evans: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his most recent estimate is of the number of unregistered voters.

Mark Harper: The Government funded research by the Electoral Commission to understand the state of the register within the existing system. This was the first report of its kind in over a decade.
	As at December 2010, the Electoral Commission estimated that the register was 85-87% complete, which would mean that there are 6 million people missing from the register. This compares to a previous completeness figure in 2000 of 91-92% or 3.9 million people missing from the register.
	The estimates are based on research undertake on the April 2011 registers, which found that at April 2011 the electoral registers in Great Britain are estimated to be 82% complete and 85% accurate. This equates to 8.5 million people missing from the register. However, the April 2011 figures are not directly comparable with the previous 2000 figures, since the 2000 figures were based on the December register (which is generally more complete and accurate as it is compiled directly after the annual canvass of electors).
	This report showed that more than ever it is important that we modernise the electoral registration system, and that is what we are planning to do as part of the move to individual electoral registration. We are actively exploring ways in which we can make it as convenient and secure as possible for citizens to register to vote, for example by enabling new channels such as online registration. We are also taking steps to maximise registration among under-registered groups.
	Increasing registration is not solely the responsibility of Government. Electoral registration officers appointed by but independent of local authorities have a duty to encourage participation in the electoral process and the Electoral Commission promotes public awareness of registration. Parliamentarians and elected officials from each of the political parties must also provide people with compelling reasons to register and participate.

Lobbying: Regulation

Diane Abbott: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he plans to bring forward further proposals for the regulation of political lobbyists in the next two years.

Mark Harper: The Government's consultation on ‘Introducing a Statutory Register of Lobbyists’ closed on 20 April 2012. The Government received a wide range of responses and will publish its formal response—providing a summary of responses received and setting out the next steps—before the House rises for summer recess.
	This will then be followed by a White Paper and draft legislation which sets out the Government's detailed proposals, later in the Session.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan and Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many serving soldiers have sustained injuries while on active service in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) regularly publishes casualty statistics on its website at:
	www.mod.uk
	The following table summarises the figures for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan:
	
		
			  Casualties (excluding natural causes) Field hospital admissions (from 1 March 2006) 
			 Operational theatre Very seriously injured (VSI) Seriously injured (SI) Wounded in action Disease or non-battle injury (DNBI) 
			 Iraq(1) 73 149 315 3,283 
			 Afghanistan(2) 279 283 1,894 3,883 
			 (1) 1 January 2003 to 31 July 2009 (2) 7 October 2001 to 30 April 2012 
		
	
	The personnel listed as very seriously injured or seriously injured may also appear in the UK field hospital admissions.

Armed Forces: Health Services

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the original (a) budget and (b) timescale was for the Army Recovery Capability project; and what project performance evaluation his Department has undertaken of the project.

Andrew Robathan: At the launch of the Army Recovery Capability (ARC) in February 2010, the Ministry of Defence committed to investing approximately £30 million over four years to the delivery of the capability.
	The original estimated time scale for full operating capability was 1 April 2012. However, as a result of delivering much broader improvements to our care of all wounded, injured and sick across the Army, it is now estimated that full operating capability will be achieved by 1 April 2013. In line with this enhanced capability, the MOD contribution to the ARC has increased to approximately £162 million over the next 10 years.
	Project performance of the ARC is monitored through a number of governance structures reporting up to the Defence Recovery Steering Group, which includes key stakeholders from across Defence and Charitable Partner Organisations. The steering group considers all aspects of the project development as well as current operations within the recovery pathway. A formal post-project evaluation will be completed in summer 2013, three months after achievement of full operating capability.

BAE Systems

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  on how many occasions BAE Systems has written to his Department to notify it of an (a) Key Industrial Capability Trigger Event and (b) Key Industrial Capability Notice under the terms of the 2009 Terms of Business Agreement;
	(2)  on how many occasions his Department has been served a Key Industrial Capability notice by BAE Systems under the terms of the 2009 Terms of Business Agreement; and what the cost was to the public purse.

Peter Luff: The Terms of Business Agreement between the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and BAE Systems Surface Ships, part of BAE Systems Maritime—Naval Ships (BAES MNS), requires the company to notify the Department, at the earliest time practicable of an impending work load shortfall.
	The MOD and the company maintain a continuous dialogue on the current and future warship-building and support work load, which has so far minimised the need to activate the formal process. To date, there has been one occasion when BAES MNS served the MOD with a Key Industrial Capability (KIC) Trigger Event Notice. This event related to a shortfall in ship support work load.
	The company has served one payment notice resulting from this KIC Trigger Event. This claim for payment, relating to the same shortfall in surface ship support work load, is currently being assessed by the Department. As such, no payment has been made in respect of this notice.

Bomb Disposal

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  on how many occasions ammunition technical officers were called to viable explosive devices in (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010, (d) 2011 and (e) 2012;
	(2)  what the average response time was to bomb incidents by ammunition technical officers in (a) 2009, (b) 2010, (c) 2011 and (d) 2012; and if he will make a statement. [Official Report, 12 September 2012, Vol. 550, c. 1MC.]

Nick Harvey: The number of call-outs by ammunition technical officers to viable explosive devices across the United Kingdom is shown in the following table. Viable devices are defined as those which contain the relevant components and are built in a manner which suggests that they would have successfully detonated prior to Explosive Ordnance Device team action. The figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
	
		
			  Number (1) 
			 2008 50 
			 2009 60 
			 2010 50 
			 2011 120 
			 2012 (at 21 May) 30 
			 (1 )This table does not show the total number of call-outs by ammunition technical officers—just those to viable devices. 
		
	
	Average response times are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Bomb Disposal: Northern Ireland

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish any memorandum of understanding he has agreed with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on (a) resourcing and (b) deployment of the Army bomb disposal team in Northern Ireland.

Nick Harvey: There is no memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Defence and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on resourcing and deployment of the Army bomb disposal team in Northern Ireland. The armed forces provide specific niche Explosive Ordnance Disposal capabilities to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in support of the UK Government's aim to reduce the risk from terrorism. This support is provided above and beyond normal UK military aid to the civil authorities arrangements and is provided free of charge to the PSNI.

Bomb Disposal: Northern Ireland

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what funding he allocated to the Army Bomb Disposal Team in Northern Ireland in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11 and (c) 2011-12; and what funding he plans to allocate in (i) 2012-13, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15.

Nick Harvey: This information is not held in the format requested. However, sufficient funding will be made available to ensure all standing commitments in Northern Ireland can be met.

Bomb Disposal: Northern Ireland

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on the deployment of ammunition technical officers in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Harvey: Explosive Ordnance Disposal in Northern Ireland is provided by the armed forces to the Police Service of Northern Ireland in support of the UK Government's aim to reduce the risk from terrorism.
	I meet regularly with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to discuss various issues related to terrorism in Northern Ireland. These discussions include the deployment of Ammunition Technical Officers.

Bomb Disposal: Northern Ireland

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of the speed and coverage of response to bomb incidents by ammunition technical officers in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many times ammunition technical officers were called out in Northern Ireland in (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010, (d) 2011 and (e) 2012 to date; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  how many ammunition technical officers were deployed in Northern Ireland in (a) 2009, (b) 2010, (c) 2011 and (d) 2012; how many he expects to be deployed in Northern Ireland in (i) 2013, (ii) 2014 and (iii) 2015; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Harvey: Response times to bomb incidents in Northern Ireland are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However the Explosive Ordnance Device teams in Northern Ireland have responded with great professionalism over the years to all requests for assistance. We will continue to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland in the most operationally effective way using the defence and police estate as necessary.
	The number of incidents to which Ammunition Technical Officers were called in Northern Ireland is shown in the following table. The figures represent the total number of times officers were called out and are rounded to the nearest 10.
	
		
			  Number 
			 2008 360 
			 2009 500 
			 2010 490 
			 2011 450 
			 2012 (at 21 May) 160 
		
	
	I am withholding the numbers of Ammunition Technical Officers deployed in Northern Ireland as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.

Defence Equipment: Scotland

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) Rangeless Airborne Instrumented Debriefing Systems, (b) National Communication Radio Systems, (c) Transportable Communications Containers and (d) Phoenix Unmanned Air Vehicles (i) of each equipment type and (ii) in each location are permanently based in Scotland.

Peter Luff: The number of Rangeless Airborne Instrumented Debriefing Systems (RAIDS) permanently based in Scotland and their locations are provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Description Location Number 
			 RAIDS pods RAF Lossiemouth 25 
			 RAIDS pods RAF Leuchars 23 
		
	
	
		
			 RAIDS Debrief Stations RAF Lossiemouth 3 
			 RAIDS Debrief Stations RAF Leuchars 2 
		
	
	Information relating to the number and locations of National Communication Radio Systems and Transportable Communication Containers is being withheld for the purpose of safeguarding national security.
	The Phoenix Unmanned Air Vehicle is no longer in service.

Defence Equipment: Scotland

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many (a) High Mobility Maintenance Trailers, (b) HIPPO Beach Recovery Vehicles, (c) Armoured Repair and Recover Vehicles (d) Bulldozers, (e) Mobile Crane Ton Vehicles and (f) Reconnaissance Vehicles (i) of each equipment type and (ii) in each location are permanently based in Scotland;
	(2)  how many (a) Mineplough Trucks, (b) Combat Engineer Tractors, (c) Dump Trucks, (d) Wheeled Earthmoving Equipment and (e) Vehicle Launched Tracked Scatterable Mine Systems are permanently based in Scotland (i) of each equipment type and (ii) in each location.

Peter Luff: The only vehicles listed in the questions that are permanently based in Scotland are reconnaissance vehicles. There are eight tracked reconnaissance vehicles with four based at Ayr and four based at Fife. There is also one wheeled reconnaissance vehicle, based at Midlothian.
	The combat engineer tractors and the vehicle launched tracked scatterable mine system both left service in 2007.

Defence: Procurement

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the National Audit Office to review his Department's equipment plan; and when he expects to publish this review.

Peter Luff: We are already working closely with the National Audit Office (NAO) on the detail of their review of the equipment plan. I expect that the review will be published in the autumn but this is primarily a matter for the NAO to determine.

Defence: Procurement

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the oral statement of 14 May 2012, Official Report, column 264, on defence budget and transformation, if he will ensure that the summary of the equipment plan he plans to publish includes per-programme costs.

Peter Luff: The Ministry of Defence already publishes detailed information on the cost of its major equipment procurement programmes through the National Audit Office's (NAO) annual Major Projects Report.
	The published summary of the equipment programme is expected to include more detail than has previously been made public, but will take due account of the requirement to protect both security and commercial confidentiality as well as the requirement to protect the MOD's position in future negotiations.
	Further assurance will be provided by the NAO audit of the equipment programme, the results of which will be published and for which the NAO will have access to confidential, detailed information on the equipment plan.

Defence: Procurement

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to his Department's press notice of 14 May 2012, which programmes make up the committed core equipment programme that amounts to £160 billion; and what the (a) length of the programme's life cycle and (b) cost over the duration of the programme's life cycle is for each programme.

Peter Luff: The core equipment programme is worth around £152 billion over the next decade, including a contingency of around £4 billion. An additional £8 billion is held as unallocated provision. The core equipment programme, together with the £8 billion of unallocated provision, will fund the capabilities that we require to deliver Future Force 2020 as set out in the strategic defence and security review. These include all of the capabilities announced by the Secretary of State for Defence, in his statement of 14 May 2012, Official Report, columns 261-64, as well as those announced by the then Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox), on 18 July 2011, Official Report, columns 66-70WS.
	Details of major programmes' through-life cost and timescales are released in the annual Major Projects Report. We also intend to publish a summary of the Equipment Programme which is expected to include more detail than has previously been made public. However some elements of the defence budget are security-sensitive and others are commercially sensitive. As such, it would not be appropriate to provide full details of every project in the core programme.

Defence: Procurement

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the oral statement of 14 May 2012, Official Report, column 263, on Defence budget and transformation, what level of risk is built in to each equipment programme budgeted for.

Peter Luff: All projects within the Ministry of Defence's equipment programmes are subject to a comprehensive risk assessment prior to approval. The approved budget represents the most likely outturn, once risk is taken into account.
	In addition, for the first time, the equipment programme contains a contingency provision worth around £4 billion over the next decade. This provision will ensure that we are better able to manage risks within major projects without incurring knock-on effects on the wider programme.

Hovercraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) Griffon 2000TD and (b) Griffon 2400TD hovercraft are in service at each location; and if he will estimate their unit cost.

Peter Luff: The only Ministry of Defence unit that has Griffon 2400TD Hovercraft is 539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines, which has four of these craft. Three are currently held at the unit at Royal Marines Turnchapel in Plymouth and one is at Griffon Hoverworks in Southampton for maintenance. The 2000TD are no longer in service with the MOD. I am withholding the information about costs as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.

Iraq

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many pieces of Iraqi military equipment were destroyed using depleted uranium ammunition by Coalition forces in the 2003 Iraq war; and how many of these (a) have been made inaccessible to civilians and (b) remain in urban areas.

Nick Harvey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 27 March 2012, Official Report, column 1053W.
	There is no record of the quantity of Iraqi military equipment destroyed using depleted uranium (DU) ammunition by UK armed forces. This is because there is no requirement for, and no central records are held of, military equipment destroyed by UK armed forces beyond that for necessary operational analysis.
	In the UK area of operations, the practice was for destroyed, broken down and abandoned equipment to be secured at the Al Basrah International and Shaibah airfields. Control of this equipment and of any that may remain elsewhere is the responsibility of the Government of Iraq. Details relating to other coalition forces are matters for them alone.
	Our own reports and scientific consensus conclude that DU intakes are only likely to be a concern for people in or on vehicles at the time they are struck by DU munitions or for those who enter immediately afterwards.

Type 26 Frigates

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his oral answer of 14 May 2012, Official Report, column 272, whether the proposal for 19 frigates and destroyers includes a programme for the construction of 13 Type-26 frigates; in what year each Type-26 frigate is scheduled to enter service; and where the Type-26 frigates will be base-ported.

Peter Luff: I can confirm that the Ministry of Defence's current planning assumption is for the construction of 13 Type 26 Global Combat Ships (GCS). The Type 26 GCS programme is in its Assessment Phase, with the results of this phase expected by the middle of this decade. As usual with equipment projects, the In Service Date will not be set until the Main Gate investment decision has been taken. No decision has been made on the base porting of the Type 26 GCS.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Broadband

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport whether the (a) Rural Community Broadband Fund and (b) Broadband Delivery UK superfast broadband fund may be used to fund broadband networks based on wireless as well as wired technologies.

Edward Vaizey: Fixed and wireless broadband technologies are eligible for public funding from Broadband Delivery UK, subject to the requirements of the EU state aid rules.

Broadband

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport whether funding for rural broadband from BDUK and Worcestershire county council is subject to the rules on state aid.

Edward Vaizey: All public subsidy for broadband projects, including from BDUK and Worcestershire county council, will be subject to the rules on state aid.

Broadband: Rural Areas

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much of the original funding for the Rural Community Broadband Fund (RCBF) will be allocated through round 1; whether any remaining funds from round 1 will be carried over to be allocated under round 2; and whether any additional funds will be added to the RCBF for allocation under round 2.

Edward Vaizey: The £20 million Rural Community Broadband Fund, jointly funded by BDUK and DEFRA, enables the funding of superfast broadband projects in the most hard to reach areas in England. Although the fund is competitive, no money has specifically been allocated to each round under the fund and no funds have yet been committed to projects.
	For each round, applicants are invited to submit an Expression of Interest to ensure that their project broadly meets with the criteria of the Fund. Successful applicants are then invited to submit a more detailed full application and business plan upon which funding decisions will be made. 39 Expressions of Interest were received in response to the first round, of which 16 were endorsed with conditions at the end of March to proceed to the full application stage. The endorsed Expressions of Interest had a cumulative grant value of just under £5 million. No funding will be committed to a project until a full application has been received, appraised, and approved. Money allocated under the fund remains at £20 million.

Communication

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport when he expects to publish his Department's Communications Green Paper.

Edward Vaizey: No decisions on the timing of the Green Paper have been made. The Communications Review remains on course and, subject to the legislative programme, the Government hope to introduce new legislation before the end of this Parliament.

Digital Broadcasting

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if he will have discussions with Digital UK on including in the awareness campaign for digital switchover in Northern Ireland additional televisions in the homes of elderly people.

Edward Vaizey: Digital UK's awareness campaign highlights the need to make provisions for main and additional televisions in the home in preparation for switchover. The Help Scheme has contacted everyone eligible under the Scheme, which includes people aged 75 and over, to offer practical support in advance of switchover in Northern Ireland.

Members: Correspondence

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport when he plans to respond to the letters from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay of 12 March and 19 April 2012 regarding a constituent, Mrs M Lee.

John Penrose: The Department has no record of receiving the letters referred to. Copies of the letters have been requested from the office of my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon and Billericay.

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun-off by his Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

John Penrose: No new public sector mutuals have been created or spun-off by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in 2010-11 or 2011-12.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Developing Countries: Water

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will assess the likely outcomes of integrating efforts on clean water and sanitation with efforts to tackle (a) trachoma and (b) onchocerciasis and (c) other neglected tropical diseases; if he will make it his policy that the implementation of his Department's commitment on water and sanitation is integrated with efforts to tackle neglected tropical diseases; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen O'Brien: The UK has prioritised funding of neglected tropical diseases. This includes funding for a joint mapping of trachoma and other neglected tropical diseases in relation to the availability of water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) in the affected countries. Following on from the mapping, we will also be funding a comprehensive approach to tackling the global problem of blinding trachoma, which includes facial cleanliness and environmental improvements. A recent review supported by DFID showed that ending open defecation is one of the most efficient ways to reduce trachoma transmission. Water and sanitation is not only integrated into our trachoma programmes, improvements in water and sanitation also have an impact in reducing transmission of schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted-helminths, guinea worm and others. The community directed intervention approach used in tackling many of the neglected tropical diseases, including onchocerciasis, can increase the community's awareness of public health issues including water and sanitation.
	Cost savings on integrated programmes have been estimated at 26-47% compared to non-integrated programmes and the benefits of adding WaSH interventions will be considerable both in all our neglected tropical disease programmes.

Overseas Aid

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what programmes or projects his Department is funding to strengthen the capacity of public sector audit, revenue collection or financial managements systems in developing countries; what countries are supported; what the goals are of each project; how much funding his Department has provided in each case; what the start and end date is in each case; and what contractors or other bodies are providing assistance.

Stephen O'Brien: Most of the DFID's country offices are involved in helping to strengthen some aspect of public financial management. Larger projects include those in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ghana and Nigeria. In Rwanda and Sierra Leone we have projects specifically supporting the supreme audit institution. The countries which we are helping with revenue include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, various states in India, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia.
	As part of its evidence paper to the International Development Committee for its inquiry into Tax in Developing Countries, DFID prepared an analysis of tax related project spending over the period 2006-07 to 2010-11. A schedule listing projects which are still in progress will be placed in the Library. It shows for each the benefitting country, overall project goal, overall budget and percentage that relates to tax and the spend to date. Information on the contractors or other bodies involved in providing the assistance is also given. Some funding is, in whole or in part, financial aid, which is funding paid to the recipient Government. The contractor information relates only to the non-financial aid element of the project. This means it concerns the main organisations contracted by DFID, rather than organisations which may be contracted by the recipient Government.
	It has not been possible to provide similar information for projects relating to public audit and other aspects of public financial management, as to do so would incur excessive staff time and therefore cost.

Overseas Aid

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department gave to (a) India, (b) Pakistan and (c) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2011; whether any such funding had a designated purpose; and what those purposes were.

Andrew Mitchell: In 2010-11, the Department for International Development (DFID) gave no bilateral aid to St Vincent and the Grenadines.
	UK aid to Pakistan is focused on ensuring stability and prosperity for Pakistan and the region. In 2010-11 DFID invested £203 million to help Pakistan. We are on track to: get 4 million children into school; help over 1.2 million people—more than half of these Women—access credit; support 500,000 couples to access family planning; and provide practical job training to tens of thousands of people.
	In India, where we are walking the last mile, DFID invested £279 million of aid and support. We are on track to: give 3 million poor people (2.1 million of them women) access to credit, insurance and savings; help over 400,000 mothers deliver babies more safely; reach 3.9 million children with nutrition programmes; and support over 800,000 children to enrol in secondary school and 1.5 million children to enrol in primary school. Our programme is now concentrated in three of the poorer states; up to half now focus on the role of the private sector in poverty alleviation.

JUSTICE

Alternatives to Prison: Greater Manchester

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he expects to publish an evaluation of the Manchester Intensive Alternative to Custody project.

Crispin Blunt: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave the right hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr Lammy) on 16 May 2012, Official Report, column 173W.

Children: Protection

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will assess and respond to Action for Children's report entitled Keeping children safe: The case for reforming the law on child neglect; and if he will make a statement.

Crispin Blunt: The Ministry of Justice has noted the content of the report. There are no present plans to amend the law in this area.
	To supplement this information, I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given by the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton), on 23 May 2012, Official Report, column 740W.

Courts: Translation Services

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what meetings he has had with representatives of court interpreters on changes to funding of interpretation services;
	(2)  what meetings he has had with representatives of (a) ethnic minorities and (b) the police on changes to funding for court interpreters.

Crispin Blunt: The Secretary of State for Justice has not met with representative interpreter groups however the Ministry sought interpreters' views on the industry during a series of four road shows during late 2009; met various stakeholders in August and September 2010 and consulted key interested parties, including the police, on the proposed framework agreement as part of the procurement process and received a wide range of views in response. Now that the framework agreement has been implemented the Ministry continues to receive, consider and respond to correspondence from interested parties and groups.
	In accordance with our obligations under the Equality Act 2010 the Department and Ministers had due regard to the public sector equality duty before making changes to interpretation services and published a full equality impact assessment. Following this, the Ministry has not received any requests for meetings with ethnic minority groups.

Criminal Injuries Compensation

Ben Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many awards under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme were reduced on the basis of applicants' unspent criminal convictions in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2010-11 and (d) 2011-12.

Jonathan Djanogly: The figures are given in the following table. The current (2008) compensation scheme says claims officers must refuse or reduce compensation where the applicant has unspent convictions unless there are exceptional reasons not to do so. However, there are cases still being considered under previous schemes that didn't make such reductions compulsory. The number of awards paid to those with unspent convictions is therefore likely to be higher.
	
		
			 Financial year Number of awards reduced 
			 2008-09 1,952 
			 2009-10 2,837 
			 2010-11 3,604 
			 2011-12 2,775

Criminal Injuries Compensation

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many of those injured in the 7 July 2005 London bombings are awaiting a final settlement from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board; what the reasons are for the time taken to make a final settlement; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) is still investigating one case, which they first received last year. This claim was originally refused as being out of time, but the Tribunal Service has determined that the two year time limit for making a claim should be waived. Three other applicants have outstanding appeals with the Tribunals Service having disagreed with CICA's assessment of how much compensation should be paid. These cases have not been finalised due to difficulties in getting definitive medical prognoses and proof of other resultant losses. CICA have paid all three people interim awards.

Ministerial Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on what dates (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) senior officials in his Department have met representatives of (i) the Institute for Public Policy Research, (ii) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) ResPublica, (v) the Centre for Social Justice and (vi) Policy Exchange; and if he will publish the minutes and agendas of these meetings.

Kenneth Clarke: Ministry of Justice Ministers hold meetings with a wide variety of stakeholders as part of the process of policy development and delivery. It is not the Government's practice to provide all details of such meetings.
	However, the Ministry of Justice publishes quarterly meetings between Ministers and external organisations as well as meetings between permanent secretaries and external organisations. This can be found at:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/corporate-reports
	The next return is due to be published soon.
	The Ministry of Justice does not centrally record meetings attended by senior officials in the Department. To collate this information would exceed the cost limit for answering parliamentary questions.

Proceeds of Crime

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 14 May 2012, Official Report, column 13W, on electronic tagging; for what reasons detailed assessment of the Community Cashback Scheme was not undertaken.

Crispin Blunt: “Community Cashback” was a one-off scheme launched by the previous Administration in June 2009 to distribute recovered criminal assets to local areas to be reinvested for the benefit of their communities during the financial year 2009-10.
	In 2010 this Government took the decision not to run any further rounds of Community Cashback funding, and has no plans to commit resources to evaluating a scheme which we have no plans to repeat.
	We plan to raise up to an additional £50 million from offenders through extending the Victim Surcharge and other financial penalties, on top of the £66 million that central Government already spend on victim's services. It is intended that this additional funding will be used for services which help to support victims of crime.

Young Offenders: Greater Manchester

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the reasons for the reduction in the number of young adults from Manchester held in young offender institutions since May 2009; and if he will make a statement.

Crispin Blunt: The Government welcome the reduction in the number of young adults from Manchester that are being held in young offender institutions. Across the country we are working to achieve improved outcomes for all young adults through a range of policies and operational practice developments currently being taken forward. This includes diversion away from custody, where appropriate, and tough and coordinated rehabilitation activity requiring offenders to face and tackle the problems which cause their offending.

TREASURY

Banks

Steven Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the potential risks to the investments made from the public purse in financial institutions.

Mark Hoban: As set out in HM Treasury's latest set of published accounts, a total of £124 billion of cash had been invested in financial interventions up to March 2011. The scale of support has already started to decrease rapidly and is expected to continue to do so.
	The final cost to the taxpayer will only be known once all of the interventions have been exited. However, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published an updated estimate of the direct fiscal cost of financial sector interventions as part of its March 2012 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, estimating the eventual loss to the taxpayer to be £14.3 billion.

British Sky Broadcasting: News Corporation

David Winnick: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he had regarding the bid by News Corporation for BSkyB at the meeting with Rebekah Brooks on 13 December 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: holding answer 17 May 2012
	Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
	The Treasury publishes a list of ministerial meetings with external organisations, available at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm

Child Tax Credit

Helen Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many people in Warrington North constituency are in receipt of the disability element of child tax credit;
	(2)  how many people in Warrington North constituency are in receipt of the severe disability element of child tax credit.

David Gauke: holding answer 14 May 2012
	The information is as follows:
	
		
			 Number of in-work families receiving the disabled child element of Child Tax Credit in Warrington North as at 1 April 201 2 
			  Number (thousand) 
			 Disabled child element 0.2 
		
	
	The number of families receiving the severely disabled child element in Warrington North is not available, and no estimates for out-of-work families receiving the disabled child elements are available as out-of-work statistics include households administered by DWP.

Civil Servants: Pay

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of senior staff in each (a) Government Department, (b) Executive agency and (c) non-departmental public body who are paid by means of payments to a limited company in lieu of a salary; and if he will make a statement.

Danny Alexander: On 23 May, I announced the findings of the “Review of the tax arrangements of public sector appointees”. This set out the extent of senior off payroll engagements across Government—including those paid via personal service companies—and made recommendations to ensure that, in future Government employers are able to assure themselves that their senior off payroll staff are meeting their tax obligations.
	This review, and links to the data provided by Departments to the review are available on the Treasury, website at:
	www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/tax_pay_appointees_review.htm

Complaints

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints about the work of his Department and each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies were received in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: The number of complaints received by the Treasury including its agencies and non-departmental public bodies was as follows:
	(a) one in 2010-11; and
	(b) 382 in 2011-12.
	381 of the complaints in 2011-12 refer to the work of the Equitable Life Payments Scheme. This represents less than 0.2% of all payments made to policyholders as at 31 March 2012. The remaining two complaints (in 2010-11 and 2011-12) refer to the work of the Office of Tax Simplification.

Disadvantaged

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to commission an independent assessment of the effect of the 2012 and future budgets on the most vulnerable in society.

Chloe Smith: The Treasury is responsible for taking due regard of the equalities impact of the Budget. In line with its statutory obligations, HM Treasury considers the impact of policy measures on groups with protected characteristics as part of the policy development process and has taken unprecedented steps to increase transparency and enable effective scrutiny of policy making by publishing detailed distributional analysis of the impact of its reforms on households.
	In addition, and consistent with steps taken by the Government to increase transparency and enable the effective scrutiny of policy making, the Treasury publishes, jointly with HMRC, tax information and impact notes (TIINs) for individual tax measures. These TIINs set out the expected impacts of individual measures, including the impacts on individuals and households.
	The document ‘Overview of tax legislation and rates’, published alongside Budget 2012, collects together in one place the TIINs for tax measures which will be legislated for in Finance Bill 2012. This document can be found online at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2012/ootlar.htm

Financial Services

John Glen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect of the Retail Distribution Review on the transparency of costs and the level of overall charges for investment products;
	(2)  what assessment he had made of the effect of excluding dealing costs, platform charges, and initial charges from the (a) total expense ratio and (b) ongoing charge;
	(3)  what discussions he has had with the FSA on measures designed to tackle hidden costs and charges for savings, private pensions and investment products.

Mark Hoban: The FSA's Retail Distribution Review is examining the transparency and fairness of fees and charges across the financial advice landscape and will move the industry towards a transparent distribution charge. Firms that provide advice will be paid by charges that are set out up-front and agreed with their clients, rather than by commissions set by product providers to secure distribution of their products. The cost of advice will be listed separately from any platform costs and the costs associated with fund management.
	The FSA has consulted extensively on the RDR since 2006 and, in accordance with the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, has published cost-benefit analyses of the proposals. These are available on the FSA's website:
	http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/About/What/rdr/index.shtml
	The Chancellor of the Exchequer has regular meetings with the FSA at which a range of issues are discussed.

Income Tax

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of low earners who will not pay income tax in 2012-13 as a result of the measures he proposes to introduce.

David Gauke: The 2011 Budget announced a £630 cash increase in the personal allowance for under 65s to £8,105 in 2012-13 (£240 above expected RPI indexation), with an equivalent reduction in the basic rate limit to leave the higher rate threshold unchanged.
	As a result of these measures, the Government estimated that in 2012-13 260,000 of the lowest income taxpayers will be removed from tax altogether. Information at Government office region is provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Government office region Number taken out of income tax (thousand) 
			 North East 10 
			 North West and Merseyside 28 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 26 
		
	
	
		
			 East Midlands 18 
			 West Midlands 25 
			 East of England 25 
			 London 30 
			 South East 32 
			 South West 24 
			 Wales 10 
			 Scotland 21 
			 Northern Ireland 9 
			 Address abroad / unknown 3 
			 All 260 
		
	
	These estimates are based on the 2007-08 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected to 2012-13 using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility's March 2011 economic and fiscal outlook.
	Reliable estimates are not available at parliamentary constituency level, due to greater uncertainties in projections for small geographical areas and small sample sizes.
	The 2012 Budget announced a £1,100 cash increase in the personal allowance for under 65s to £9,205 in 2013-14, £850 above expected RPI indexation, and representing the largest increase in the level of the personal allowance in both cash and real terms for the last 30 years. The Government are committed to supporting lower and middle income earners by raising the personal allowance to £10,000, and removing the lowest income individuals out of income tax. Decisions on future changes in the personal allowance will be taken as part of the annual Budget process in the context of the wider public finances.

Income Tax

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the number of workers in (a) Pendle, (b) Lancashire and (c) the north-west who will be affected by the increase in the personal allowance.

David Gauke: The 2012 Budget announced a £1,100 cash increase in the personal, allowance for under 65s to £9,205 in 2013-14, £850 above expected RPI indexation, and representing the largest increase in the level of the personal allowance in both cash and real terms for the last 30 years.
	As a result of this change, the Government estimate that in the north-west and Merseyside, 2.57 million taxpayers in total will benefit, 95 thousand will be taken out of tax altogether and 149,000 taxpayers with income above £41,450 will pay more.
	These estimates are based on the 2009-10 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected to 2013-14 using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility's March 2012 economic and fiscal outlook.
	Reliable estimates are not available at the local authority and parliamentary constituency levels due to greater uncertainties in making projections for small geographical areas.

Lost Property

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more his Department lost in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: No items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more have been reported as being lost from the Treasury in 2010-11 or 2011-12.

Departmental Staff

John Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many full-time equivalent employees have (a) left and (b) been recruited to his Department in the last two years.

Chloe Smith: The following table shows HM Treasury's full-time equivalent (FTE) leavers and joiners (excluding students) from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2012. The figures exclude departmental staff who are not on the payroll owing to loans, secondments and special leave.
	
		
			 HM Treasury April 2010 to March 2012 
			 Joiners 465 
			 Permanent leavers 574 
		
	
	Joiners include new recruits to the civil service (including those through the civil service fast streams); people transferring from other Government Departments; and loans in from other Government Departments.
	Permanent leavers include people at the end of loans or secondments; resignations; permanent transfers; end of fixed term contracts; retirement; and voluntary early severance.

Ministerial Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what dates (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) senior officials in his Department have met representatives of (i) the Institute for Public Policy Research, (ii) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) the Child Poverty Action Group, (v) ResPublica, (vi) the Centre for Social Justice and (vii) Policy Exchange; and if he will publish the minutes and agendas of these meetings.

Chloe Smith: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
	Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm
	Details of officials’ meetings with external organisations are not held centrally and it would entail disproportionate cost to collate this information.

Operating Costs

John Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent on the administration of his Department in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11 and (c) 2011-12.

Chloe Smith: Details of spending on administration costs in 2009-10 and 2010-11 are shown in the Treasury's annual report and accounts for 2010-11, available online at:
	www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/dep_perf_reports_index.htm
	Details of 2011-12 administration spending will be shown in the 2011 -12 annual report and accounts which will published before the summer recess.

Personal Savings

John Glen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to increase consumer confidence in savings for retirement.

Mark Hoban: The Government have taken a number of steps to give consumers confidence in saving for retirement, including: promoting choice by removing the effective requirement to annuitise at age 75; introducing automatic enrolment of eligible employees into a minimum quality workplace pension scheme from October 2012; and working with industry and consumer groups to establish a 'default' open market option.
	The Government have also taken steps to give consumers confidence in the wider savings market by introducing a Junior ISA; introducing the Money Advice Service; announcing at Budget 2012 that the Government will work with industry to improve competitiveness and transparency in the ISA market; and indexing ISA contribution limits to inflation. The Government has also asked an independent Steering Group to devise a suite of simple financial products which are straightforward and easy to understand.
	The Government are also setting up the new Financial Conduct Authority as a single, dedicated conduct regulator that will intervene more proactively and decisively to police the conduct of financial services firms, prevent consumer detriment, and secure better outcomes for consumers. The FCA will also be a more open and transparent organisation so that consumers can see what the regulator is doing to ensure that markets function well, and hold it to account.

Public Expenditure

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what activities the (a) Financial Inclusion Fund and (b) Growth Fund have supported in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; what the monetary value was of each project; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: “Financial inclusion: an action plan for 2008 to 2011” announced how the £130 million funding for the Financial Inclusion Fund would be spent and is available on the HM Treasury website:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/financialinclusion_actionplan 061207.pdf
	Total allocations for projects from the Fund in 2010-11 were set at £43.547 million. The Financial Inclusion Fund was closed on 31 March 2011.
	The Financial Inclusion Growth Fund was a project funded by the Financial Inclusion Fund which was delivered by the Department of Work and Pensions. In the period 2008 to 2011, the project received £38 million from the Financial Inclusion Fund and a further £18.75 million investment from the Department of Work and Pensions in 2009.
	The Financial Inclusion Taskforce commissioned and published evaluations of the Financial Inclusion Growth Fund in December 2010 and April 2011 which detail the activities the Fund supported. These papers are available on the HM Treasury website:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/fin_consumer_fininclusion _taskforce_research.htm

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun-off by his Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: None.

Revenue and Customs

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the revenue which will accrue to HM Revenue and Customs from the costs incurred by callers to the HM Revenue and Customs helplines.

David Gauke: I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) on 6 July 2011, Official Report,column 185W, and to the answer that I gave to her on 17 May 2012, Official Report, column 301W.

Royal Bank of Scotland

Jim Murphy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has made representations to the Royal Bank of Scotland on reviewing its financial complaints procedures for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Mark Hoban: The Chancellor of the Exchequer meets senior members of UK banking institutions on a range of issues. It is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings and discussions.
	The Government's shareholding in the Royal Bank of Scotland is managed on a commercial and arm's length basis by UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI), a company which is wholly owned by the Government. UKFI's role is to manage the investment not to manage the bank—the bank retains its own independent board and management team to manage itself commercially without interference from shareholders.

Tax Allowances: Pensions

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost was of tax relief on employee and employer contributions to personal pension schemes in each of the last 30 years; how many employees in each tax band made contributions to a personal pension in each year; and what the average costs were.

Mark Hoban: Estimates of the tax cost of personal pensions since 2001-02 can be found in Table PEN6 on the HMRC website at the following link:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/pensions/pen6.xls
	The available information for prior years was published by HMRC in Inland Revenue Statistics, most recently in Table 7.7, copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library.
	Published estimates are not available regarding the numbers of employees in each tax band making contributions to a personal pension scheme or of the corresponding average tax costs.

Tax Avoidance

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to minimise tax avoidance.

David Gauke: The Government are committed to tackling tax avoidance and has demonstrated that they will act swiftly to change the law to protect the public finances and maintain fairness in the tax system.
	Anti-avoidance measures announced in the 2012 Budget will yield over £1 billion and protect over £10 billion in future revenues over the next five years, including a package of measures to tackle stamp duty land tax (SDLT) avoidance. The Budget also announced a consultation on a general anti-abuse rule in summer 2012 with a view to bringing forward legislation in Finance Bill 2013.
	The Government's commitment has been underlined by their reinvestment of £917 million in HMRC, which will enable it to better tackle tax avoidance, evasion and organised crime over the spending review period. This investment will transform HMRC's compliance activities across the board and bring in additional revenues of £7 billion a year by 2014-15 on top of the £13 billion additional revenues to which HMRC is already committed.

VAT

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the likely cost to the Exchequer of his proposals on VAT levied on private universities; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: holding answer 14 May 2012
	No estimate has been made.

VAT

Caroline Flint: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of his proposals to charge VAT on alterations to listed buildings on the ability of churches and community organisations to install energy efficiency measures.

David Gauke: No specific assessment has been made. After the VAT change on alterations to listed buildings comes into effect, the scope of the Listed Places of Worship Grant scheme will be extended so that it covers alterations as well as repairs, and the funding for this scheme will be increased by £30 million a year. The Government is working with the Church of England, other faith groups and heritage organisations on the design of the scheme.

VAT

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received on the removal of the VAT exemption for the sale of holiday homes; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: Since the Budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been holding a consultation on a range of VAT anomalies, including static holiday caravans. The consultation concluded on 1.8th May. We will set out our response to the consultation in due course.

VAT

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect of charging VAT on freshly baked goods on pound bakeries in the north of England and their employees;
	(2)  when his Department plans to report on its consultation on the effects of charging VAT on freshly baked goods;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the cost to bakeries of changing their tills in order to respond to the proposals in the budget to charge VAT on freshly baked goods.

David Gauke: The impacts are set out in Annex B—Table of Impact for Individual Measures—of the HM Revenue and Customs consultation document ‘VAT: Addressing borderline anomalies’, published in Budget 2012:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2012/vat-con-4801.pdf
	The consultation closed on 18 May. HM Revenue and Customs is now analysing the responses and a response document will be published before legislation is laid before Parliament in the summer.

VAT: Listed Buildings

Caroline Flint: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will provide grants to charities and community organisations based in listed buildings to compensate them for the extra expenditure they will incur under his proposals to charge VAT on alterations to such buildings;
	(2)  if he will develop plans to provide support for (a) community organisations and (b) charities based in listed buildings which will be required to pay 20% VAT on alterations to their buildings.

David Gauke: Charities which own listed places of worship will receive such compensation for them. Listed places of worship were already eligible for grants towards the VAT cost of repairs and maintenance through the Listed Places of Worship grant scheme. It is logical to extend this grant scheme to alterations, when the VAT treatment of alterations and repairs is put on the same footing.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking to protect and promote the agricultural industry in the West Midlands.

Richard Benyon: The Rural Development Programme for England (2007-13) is a socio-economic investment programme offering a range of nationally available products to protect and promote the agricultural industry across England, in response to the priorities identified in the Rural Economy Growth Review, including:
	Up to £20 million for the Farm and Forestry Improvement Scheme—providing small grants of between £2,500 and £25,000 to enable the development of farm, forestry, and horticulture businesses. To date, DEFRA has received circa 200 applications from businesses in the West Midlands (second highest of any region), approving 175.
	Up to £60 million for the Rural Economy Grant—providing large grants of over £25,000 up to circa £1 million (no set upper cap) to enable the transformational change in the economic performance of farm, forestry, tourism, and agri-food businesses. In the first application window, DEFRA has received 168 outline applications from businesses in the West Midlands (again the second highest of any region).
	Up to £20 million for a Skills and Knowledge Transfer programme—training providers are currently being procured, with the programme due to commence in the autumn 2012. However, through an existing West Midlands land skills training programme 7,000 beneficiaries have attended over 8,000 training days in the last three years.
	Up to £20 million Rural Community Broadband Fund (funded jointly by DEFRA and DCMS)—providing grant support to enable communities (including the agricultural industry) to access superfast broadband in hard to reach locations. To date four Expressions of Interest applications received from communities in the West Midlands have been selected to progress to the next application stage.

Agriculture

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking to promote the benefits of new farming practices to farmers.

James Paice: DEFRA works with several organisations, including the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), on projects which help farmers to transfer new farming research into practical solutions. Most DEFRA funded research includes knowledge transfer arrangements to encourage the uptake of findings. This includes demonstration activities, eg through East Malling Research, Stockbridge, Warwick HRI and other horticultural institutes with the aim of improving farm productivity through reduced diseases, and reduced and/or better targeted water and pesticide usage.
	The Rural Development Programme England (RDPE) socio-economic investment Programme is in the process of setting up a new Skills and Knowledge Transfer framework which will channel up to £20 million into a flexible and locally targetable skills training programme to be launched in the autumn of 2012. This framework will promote the benefits of new farming practices through targeting the business management skills, knowledge transfer, innovation and technical skills; animal health and welfare; and resource use efficiency. These activities have been developed with industry input and aim to support the needs of the sector moving forward. RDPE funding has also supported over 40 demonstration or “Monitor Farms” across England to demonstrate how effective use of best practice, health planning and research developments can reduce costs and improve performance.
	Since 1 January 2012, the new Farming Advice Service (FAS) provides advice on nutrient management and competitiveness, including new farming practices and research outputs. The new service is delivered by AEA Technology plc in active partnership with industry-related bodies, such as AHDB and ADAS, taking advantage wherever possible of existing activities and engagement with farmers.
	DEFRA also supports several voluntary approaches to promote the uptake of new practices (eg the Pesticides Voluntary Initiative, Campaign for the Farmed Environment, and industry's Greenhouse Gas Action Plan). DEFRA is currently reviewing the effectiveness of voluntary approaches and the wider provision of advice and incentives to farmers following commitments in the 2011 Natural Environment White Paper.

Animal Feed

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will commission research to consider the opportunities and risks arising from using food waste to feed livestock.

James Paice: DEFRA is currently conducting a review on the benefits and risks of using food waste in animal feed (Project FO0218). We anticipate the review concluding at the end of 2012.

Bees

Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what consideration her Department has given to the effects of neonicotinoids on bee populations; and what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of current regulations on neonicotinoids in preserving the size of bee populations.

Richard Benyon: Bee health is influenced by a number of factors, particularly pests and pathogens, environmental impacts, nutrition, the weather and, in the case of honey bees, bee husbandry. All pesticides are subject to a risk assessment, which includes effects on bees, and are not authorised if risks are found to be unacceptable. Government scientists also rigorously assess published research reports on neonicotinoid insecticides with an open mind. We continue to consider the implications of all new published information, including two new studies (Henry et al and Whitehorn et al) published on 29 March, and have sought the views of the independent expert Advisory Committee on Pesticides. We are also carrying out further research of our own. The Government will not hesitate to take action if the available evidence shows the need.
	The regulatory system for pesticides is comprehensive and is constantly updated to ensure that it continues to protect people and the environment. For bees, new data requirements will explicitly include studies to address the possible risks to bee behaviour, colony survival and development and to consider possible sub-lethal effects. The independent European Food Safety Authority has just produced a scientific opinion on the EU bee regulatory risk assessment and will produce a new guidance document on the bee risk assessment for member states to follow in authorising pesticide products. UK officials are closely involved in these developments.

Biofuels: Pollution

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to measure the (a) mortality and (b) morbidity of people living within a radius of (i) 0.5 miles and (ii) one mile of biomass power stations compared with control samples.

Richard Benyon: Biomass power plants with capacities above 20 MW or regulated under the waste incineration directive are subject to stringent emission controls in their permits. We have also published our intention to include emission limits for particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen as eligibility criteria for the renewable heat incentive for biomass power plants with capacities less than 20 MW.
	DEFRA has no plans to measure the mortality or morbidity of people living within a radius of half or one mile of biomass power stations.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what clinical trials her Department is supporting to investigate future vaccine resistance in badgers.

James Paice: DEFRA is not supporting any clinical trials to investigate future vaccine resistance in badgers.
	Our badger vaccines research programme is now focused on the development of an effective and affordable oral vaccine, which would be more practical to deploy than the current injectable vaccine. This is still at the research stage and is being conducted in collaboration with researchers in the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand. In parallel, research at the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency and Fera is ongoing looking at the most suitable bait for the oral vaccine and evaluating strategies for deployment. Compared to an injectable vaccine, an oral vaccine is technically more difficult to formulate and we cannot say with any certainty if and when an oral badger vaccine might be available for use in the field.

Food Supply

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  when she expects to publish her proposals for the Government's Green Food Project;
	(2)  if she will take steps to ensure the Government's Green Food Project covers all aspects of food sustainability;
	(3)  if she will take steps to ensure the Green Food Project takes into account health, environmental, social and economic consequences arising from the way food is produced, sold and disposed of in the UK.

James Paice: The Green Food Project is a joint initiative between the food and farming industry, environmental and consumer organisations and Government.
	A steering group of senior representatives from these organisations was set up to oversee and determine the direction of the project's work. Throughout the discussions they have debated a number of food sustainability, social, economic, environmental and health related issues.
	The initial findings of the project will be published in July 2012.

Food Supply

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much her Department spent on research into food production in the last year for which figures are available.

James Paice: DEFRA spent approximately £28 million on food and farming research in 2011-12 and £30 million on animal health and welfare in the agricultural sector.

Food Supply

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what role her Department plays in directing where and how research into food production is conducted.

James Paice: DEFRA works with other Government bodies, research councils, industry and the third sector through several initiatives to direct and co-ordinate research into food production. This includes:
	The development and implementation of the Government Chief Scientist's UK Food Research and Innovation Strategy.
	The Food Research Partnership, which aims to strengthen and co-ordinate multi-disciplinary research on food and farming, directing infrastructure, skills, training and translation of research into practice.
	The Global Food Security Research Programme, which promotes collaboration in research funding on food sustainability, security and nutrition in light of a growing global population.
	The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) led Sustainable Agri-Food Innovation Platform (SAF IP), which funds industry-led collaborative research between research organisations and industry. DEFRA is also working closely with the TSB on the Detection and Identification of Infectious Agents Innovation Platform to deliver research needs.
	At EU and international level, DEFRA is engaged in a number of initiatives to coordinate research on agriculture production such as ERA NETs, to co-fund research, and leverage funding through the Framework 7 programme.(FP7).

Food Supply

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the carbon footprint of the UK food chain.

James Paice: According to the most recently published data, the carbon footprint of the UK food chain is an estimated 183 million tonnes CO2 equivalent in 2009.
	Source:
	Food Statistics Pocketbook 2011 and DEFRA UK's Carbon Footprint 1990-2009:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/statistics/environment/green-economy/scptb01-ems/

Food Supply

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking to promote innovative local food initiatives.

James Paice: The marketing of regional and local food can bring benefits to both producers and consumers alike and we want to encourage innovation in the sector. Recently, DEFRA and the Technology Strategy Board held an innovation summit to increase awareness of the innovation support mechanisms which are available to micro, small and medium-sized food businesses and we launched a competition for SMEs to develop new techniques.
	DEFRA support for local food chain initiatives in England has come mainly from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE). This funding has supported initiatives including support for local food marketing linked to tourism activity, individual food producers and retail outlets, food hubs and farmers' markets. Support will continue to be available through the new RDPE nationally consistent schemes.
	Last September, we published the Social Enterprise Action Research (SEAR) Report on Community Food Enterprises. This report (co-funded by DEFRA and the Cabinet Office) confirmed that across the country there are a range of local food groups of different sizes and membership emerging, often bringing together growers, processors and small food businesses. We welcome the development of these groups and the many benefits they can bring to producers and the local community, particularly to support local growth, but recognise that with the recent changes to the regional tier and closure of Regional Development Agencies, it is for local communities and local economic partnerships to decide where and how initiatives of this nature develop.

Food Supply

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether (a) she, (b) her Ministers and (c) officials in her Department have had any recent discussions on local food initiatives with counterparts at the Department for Communities and Local Government.

James Paice: Ministers are frequently in discussion with colleagues at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) regarding a range of issues, including local food initiatives, particularly in the context of the Food Growing in Schools Task Force. In addition DEFRA officials have also had discussions within the last year with their DCLG counterparts on a number of local food related initiatives including the “Communities Orchards: How to Guide” which DEFRA contributed to and on retail markets including those which sell local food.

Food: Prices

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of foodbanks which have been established in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland in the last year.

James Paice: The Government has made no estimate of the number of foodbanks in the UK and Scotland.

Food: Production

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on steps to increase university and college-based research into sustainable food production practices.

James Paice: DEFRA is working with other Departments, including Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), to take forward the recommendations of the Taylor review, which encourages greater collaboration between the public and private sector in funding research, reinvigorating applied research in agricultural science and ensuring more effective knowledge transfer takes place.

Food: Recycling

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether her Department has undertaken any recent research into the life-cycle impacts of food.

James Paice: DEFRA has funded life-cycle research to quantify the impacts of agricultural commodities, compare the environmental impacts of different production systems, assess greenhouse gas emissions from post-farm gate stages in the food chain and sustainability impacts of changes towards healthier diets. DEFRA has also funded a review of evidence on the impacts of the food chain, which reviewed the Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) data available.

Food: Sustainable Development

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of her Department's capability to undertake research into sustainable food production practices.

James Paice: DEFRA commissions research from its own agencies such as the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) and Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) and external contractors. Priority evidence needs around sustainable food production practices are identified in dialogue between DEFRA's agencies, evidence specialists and policy teams.

Food: Sustainable Development

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the amount spent by the private sector on sustainable food production practices in the last year for which figures are available.

James Paice: It is not possible to give a single estimate for money spent by the private sector on “sustainable food production practices”, because levels of sustainability will vary across the food and farming sectors. However we do collect some information about private sector investment, which gives an indication of levels of expenditure.
	For example total capital expenditure by UK farmers and food and drink manufacturers is given in the following table.
	
		
			  Capital expenditure 2010 (£ billion) 
			 Farming(1) 2.2 
			 Food Manufacturers(2) 1.97 
			 Drink manufacturers(2) 0.56 
			 Source s : (1) DEFRA, Agriculture in the UK, excludes livestock. (2) ONS Annual Business Survey

Food: Sustainable Development

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much her Department spent on skills training to assist in sustainable food production methods in the last year for which figures are available.

James Paice: The Government works with the industry through forums such as the Agri Skills Forum which brings together organisations with an interest in the development of rural and farming skills. We offer support for skills and training through individual initiatives, for example:
	The Rural Development Programme for England provides grant funding for skills and training. In 2011 the programme provided c£14 million of investment in skills and training for the agriculture and forestry sectors of which a significant part will have supported sustainable food production methods skills and training.
	The Farming Advice Service provides information on nutrient management, competitiveness and climate change adaption and mitigation which give details to improve sustainable food production methods.
	The Government provides a grant for the National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs which is used for training and skills development.
	The food and farming industry takes the lead in investing in skills development, working with the network of Sector Skills Councils.

Food: Sustainable Development

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with (a) the Technology Strategy Board and (b) the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board on research into sustainable food production practices.

James Paice: DEFRA works closely with the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) as a major funder of the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Innovation Platform to develop research calls. This includes recent calls on innovation in crop protection, sustainable protein, sustainable food production, and food processing and manufacturing efficiency. DEFRA and the TSB also recently held an innovation summit to increase awareness of innovation support mechanisms available to the agri-food industry.
	DEFRA liaises regularly with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) on research relevant to sustainable food production. Specific activities include discussions at relevant DEFRA and AHDB-sector research steering committees and at individual project level.

Origin Marking

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with her EU counterparts on extending the UK's labelling guidelines across the EU as a whole.

James Paice: Most labelling guidelines published by DEFRA (covering such topics as “sell-by” and “display-until” dates) are purely intended for use within the United Kingdom, since discussions within the EU on these matters take place within the framework of the Food Information Regulation. The only exception is the United Kingdom's voluntary labelling guidance for fresh produce, food and drink originating from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Discussions have taken place about that guidance within the context of the Mashreq/Maghreb European Council Working Group, during which the initiative taken by the United Kingdom provoked widespread interest. The European External Action Service has called on all EU member states, as well as the European Commission, to take appropriate steps in relation to labelling advice, and we have made it clear that the United Kingdom would be ready to provide, on request, further information about our own scheme.

Plants: Disease Control

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has any plans to bring forward proposals to amend Schedule 9 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to ban the sale of certain invasive non-native plant species.

Richard Benyon: Proposals to prohibit the sale of five highly invasive plant species are currently being reviewed through the Government's rigorous regulatory approvals process. These species are already listed in schedule 9 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which is a pre-condition for the use of powers to prohibit sale. An announcement will be made in due course.

Rural Areas: Northumberland

Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to encourage growth and competitiveness in rural farms and businesses in Northumberland.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA works across Government ensuring measures designed to support economic growth are having proportionate and positive impacts in rural areas.
	On 29 November 2011, the Government announced a strong package of new measures, designed to stimulate sustainable growth in the rural economy and help businesses reach their full potential. The results of this include the establishment of five Rural Growth Networks in 2012-13 (including one in Durham and Northumberland), and the targeting of £100 million of Rural Development Programme for England funding at meeting rural economy growth review priorities.
	Broadband connectivity is also vital for economic prosperity and the Government has invested £530 million to support the roll out of broadband across all rural areas. Through the £20 million Rural Community Broadband Fund, the Government is also providing grant support to enable communities (including businesses) to access superfast broadband in hard to reach locations.
	£150 million is also being invested in the UK to improve mobile phone coverage.

Water Abstraction

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she plans to bring forward proposals for a new programme for the abstraction of water regime.

Richard Benyon: Reforming the water abstraction regime is a complex process, which will involve changing around 30,000 licences. We are working closely with abstractors and other stakeholders to develop detailed proposals for reform. We plan to consult on these proposals in late 2013, and then legislate for change early in the next Parliament. Implementation of reform in a phased way would begin soon after that, though it may take until the late 2020s to complete.

HEALTH

Blood: Donors

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much his Department spent on advertising to encourage people to donate blood in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12;
	(2)  how much has been allocated to the NHS Blood and Transplant's Team Give Blood campaign.

Anne Milton: In 2010-11, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), an arm's-length body of the Department, spent £2.4 million on advertising to encourage people to donate blood; in 2011-12, NHSBT spent £2.3 million on advertising.
	During 2012, NHSBT needs to increase blood stocks by 30% in preparation for the additional bank holiday and the Olympic games period, as donors are less likely to donate during this time. The Team Give Blood campaign forms part of NHSBT's wider campaign this year to encourage existing donors to donate regularly, and to attract new donors. By the end of the Paralympics, NHSBT expects to have spent £1.56 million on advertising but to still keep within its annual general advertising budget of £2.4 million for 2012-13 through effective management of this higher level of blood stocks.

Blood: Donors

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people donated blood in England in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12.

Anne Milton: In 2010-11, 1.07 million people donated blood at least once at a session held by NHS Blood and Transplant in England; in 2011-12, it was 1.05 million people. In each year, just under 2 million donations were collected.

Care Homes

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the effect of changes to local government budgets on the cost of placing each patient into care provided by an independent care provider.

Paul Burstow: Commissioning of adult social care services is devolved to local authorities, and it is for each local authority to negotiate and agree the fees paid to individual providers, reflecting local circumstances. In setting these fee levels, local authorities should have due regard to the actual costs of providing care.
	The Department does not set or recommend rates at which local authorities contract with providers of care, and has therefore made no assessment of the cost of placing individual care users with independent providers.
	In the most recent spending review, the Government recognised the pressures on the adult social care system within a challenging settlement for local government, and took the decision to prioritise adult social care by allocating an additional £7.2 billion to the system over the four years to 2014-15 to support local authorities in delivering social care. When combined with a rigorous local authority focus on efficiency, this additional £7.2 billion means that there is funding available to protect people's access to care and deliver new approaches to improve quality and outcomes.

Complaints

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many complaints about the work of his Department and each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies were received in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The following table shows how many complaints about the work of the Department and each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies were received in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
	These figures are for financial years (April-March):
	
		
			 Department, agency or arm's length body How many complaints were received in 2010-11? How many complaints were received in 2011-12? 
			 Department of Health 31 21 
			 Alcohol Education and Research Council 0 0 
			 Appointments Commission 17 19 
			 Care Quality Commission(1):   
			 —Stage 1 207 548 
			 —Stage 2 51 47 
			 Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence 6 5 
			 General Social Care Council 143 116 
			 Health Protection Agency 22 20 
			 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority 1 1 
			 Human Tissue Authority 1 1 
			 Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency(2) 4 5 
			 Monitor 4 1 
			 (1) Complaints about the Care Quality Commission are handled in two stages. Stage one is a local resolution stage managed within each individual directorate. If the complainant remains unhappy, they can request a more formal stage two review. This stage is managed by a central national complaints team. The number of stage one complaints was not captured centrally until April 2010. (2) Denotes executive agency.

Dementia

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients received treatment from the NHS for dementia in each year since 1997.

Paul Burstow: Data on out-patient activity for dementia are not routinely collected. However, in September 2011, the NHS Information Centre published the results of an audit of memory services for dementia which showed that 951 people per primary care trust on average accessed memory services in 2010-11, compared to 605 in 2008-09.
	Information on in-patient admissions for dementia is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Count of finished admission episodes (1)  (FAEs) with a primary diagnosis (2 ) of dementia by year from 1997-98 to 2010-11 
			  FAEs 
			 1997-98 29,925 
			 1998-99 29,998 
			 1999-2000 27,940 
			 2000-01 25,178 
			 2001-02 25,021 
			 2002-03 25,210 
			 2003-04 24,101 
			 2004-05 22,741 
			 2005-06 21,218 
			 2006-07 19,513. 
			 2007-08 18,088 
		
	
	
		
			 2008-09 17,536 
			 2009-10 17,614 
			 2010-11 17,275 
			 Notes: 1. Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. 2. Primary diagnosis The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. 3. Data quality HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts in England and from some independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. 4. Assessing growth through time HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in out-patient settings and so are no longer included in admitted patient HES data. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Drugs: Misuse

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of the illegal use of controlled substances in (a) England, (b) the North East and (c) Teesside in the latest period for which figures are available.

Anne Milton: The cost of meeting the health needs in England and Wales arising from the use of Class A drugs was £488 million in 2003-04, as estimated in “Measuring different aspects of problem drug use: methodological developments, Home Office Online Report 16/06”. Separate figures for England, or regions within England, are not available.
	Additionally, Drug Treatment Outcomes Research Study, published in December 2009, assessed the outcomes, costs and benefits of drug treatment in England and estimated that in the absence of treatment the average annual cost to health and social care services would be £4,543 per person, and that structured treatment reduces this cost by 31% (£3,120).

Drugs: Misuse

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 26 March 2012, Official Report, column 987W, on drugs: misuse, what progress has been made against each action point of the round table meeting on addiction to medicines; when the action points of 15 March and the draft consensus statement will be circulated more widely; when the round table will be reconvened; and whether the All Party Parliamentary Group on Involuntary Tranquilliser Addiction will be included as a stakeholder at that reconvened meeting.

Anne Milton: Departmental officials are currently incorporating the latest drafting comments from attendees at the round table meeting, and we plan to circulate the documents containing agreed decisions shortly. We have no plans to invite hon. Members to meetings of the round table which is designed to bring together healthcare professionals and service users. I have therefore met the hon. Member on a number of occasions so that he can contribute his views on this issue.

Genito-urinary Medicine

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what guidance Public Health England plans to issue to support local authorities in commissioning open access sexual health services;
	(2)  what steps he has taken to ensure that open access sexual health services will be (a) commissioned and (b) paid for by local authorities.

Anne Milton: Secondary legislation will require local authorities to commission confidential, open-access testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and confidential open-access contraception services.
	The sexual health policy document currently in development will signpost to existing guidance including clinical guidelines and standards developed by professional bodies and organisations such as the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Local authorities will be able to use this guidance to help them to commission high quality sexual health services. Public Health England will also work with local authorities to determine what other support they may find useful.
	Local authorities will use the ring-fenced public health grant they will receive to pay for the sexual health services they will commission.

Health Services

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps he plans to take to encourage the engagement of (a) speech and language therapists and (b) other allied health professionals with clinical senates and networks;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of clinical (a) senates and (b) networks likely to be established in England in the next 12 months.

Anne Milton: To date, over 800 stakeholders have contributed to work being taken forward by the NHS Commissioning Board Authority (NHS CBA) on the development of clinical senates and clinical networks. These include patients, clinicians, commissioners, providers, Royal Colleges and academics.
	Allied health professionals, including speech and language therapists, play a vital role in the health service and will make an important contribution to clinical senates and networks in the new health system. The Department's Chief Health Professions Officer meets regularly with leaders from the relevant professional bodies and has ensured they are kept up to date with the development of proposals for clinical senates and networks. In addition, the NHS CBA's Clinical Transitions Director has met with the National Allied Health Professional Advisory Board, which advises on matters relating to education, training and other workforce issues, to discuss clinical senates and networks. The Department is also working with the professional bodies and strategic health authority allied health professionals leads to develop a database of clinical experts from each profession working in the major clinical/disease areas to help inform the future membership of clinical senates and networks.
	There are likely to be 14-16 clinical senates established in the new health system, reflecting major patient flows through the system. They will cover the whole of England and will help clinical commissioning groups, health and wellbeing boards and the NHS Commissioning Board to make the best decisions about health care for the populations they represent by providing strategic advice and leadership.
	The NHS CBA will publish its recommendations for clinical networks in the new health system shortly.

Hepatitis

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that NHS funding of new Hepatitis C treatments is established within 90 days of any NICE technology appraisal which recommends such funding.

Simon Burns: Primary care trusts are legally obliged to fund drugs and treatments recommended in National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence technology appraisal guidance, within three months of guidance being published, unless the requirement is waived in a specific case.

Herbal Medicine

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether the introduction of the traditional herbal medicinal products directive changes the status of any herbal or botanical product previously or currently on the market as a botanical food supplement under the terms of the food supplements directive; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what research into food use for botanical ingredients the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency undertakes prior to determining whether such a use exists; whether such research has recently been undertaken by the agency into the use of milk thistle; and what consideration it gave to the use of milk thistle in fruit smoothies, Vietnamese chicken soup, cereals and porridge in any such research;
	(3)  for what reasons the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is requiring the removal from the market place of botanical food supplements which have no record of harm;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the extent to which the approach to the interpretation of the provisions of the traditional herbal medicinal products directive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency contributes to the Government's deregulation objectives;
	(5)  what (a) meetings and (b) correspondence (i) Ministers and (ii) officials in (A) his Department and (B) the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency have had with Insight Public Affairs; and if he will place in the Library a copy of each meeting report and item of correspondence.

Simon Burns: The classification of products as medicines is made on a case-by-case basis by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) under the Medicines for Human Use (Marketing Authorisations Etc.) Regulations 1994 as amended. The definition of the term “medicinal product” was not changed by the introduction of the traditional herbal medicinal products directive (THMPD).
	The MHRA will take all relevant information into account when assessing the status of a product. The MHRA has not carried out any research into the use of milk thistle in fruit smoothies, Vietnamese chicken soup, cereals and porridge. The MHRA seeks voluntary compliance with medicines legislation wherever possible and companies can ask for a review of any provisional determination that a product is a medicine.
	The MHRA is committed to effective, proportionate implementation of the European directive on traditional herbal medicines which can best ensure its benefits for consumers and for companies compliant with the legislation.
	A search of the Department's ministerial correspondence database has identified 10 items of correspondence received since 1 May 2010 from Insight Public Affairs. This figure relates to correspondence addressed to departmental Ministers and received by the Department's central correspondence unit only. It does not include correspondence addressed directly to officials as this information is not collated centrally. The MHRA has not had any meetings with Insight Public Affairs on the THMPD but has received four Freedom of Information requests from them. Officials intend to place copies of the correspondence in the Library at a later date subject to written consent being received from concerned parties, who have been contacted in line with the requirements of the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Hospitals: Greater London

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations were cancelled by (a) North West London Hospitals Trust, (b) Hillingdon Hospital, (c) St Mary's Hospital Paddington and (d) Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on or after the day of admission in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; how many out-patient appointments were cancelled by each hospital in each year; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: This information is not held in the format requested. Information is available at trust level.
	
		
			 Number of cancelled operations for non clinical reasons 
			  Cancelled Operations 
			 Hospital Provider 2010-11 2011-12 
			 North West London Hospitals NHS Trust 447 477 
			 The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 161 148 
			 Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust 642 672 
			 Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 91 88 
			 Note: A last minute cancellation is one that occurs on the day the patient was due to arrive, after they have arrived in hospital or on the day of their operation. Source: Department of Health, Knowledge and Intelligence 
		
	
	
		
			 Number of outpatient hospital appointments and cancellations 2010-11 and April to January 2011-12 (provisional data) 
			  All Appointments Hospital cancellations 
			 Hospital Provider 2010-11 2011-12 2010-11 2011-12 
			 North West London Hospitals NHS Trust 446,986 360,155 0 0 
			 The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 336,169 279,539 0 0 
			 Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust 1,230,773 1,043,301 131,371 110,961 
			 Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 543,829 518,497 0 0 
			 Notes: 1. Appointments and cancellations These are counts of appointments and not patients as the same patient may have more than one appointment in a year. It should be noted that cancellation information is not collected on a mandatory basis and therefore zero values may indicate that a provider does not collect this information. 2. Hospital provider Hospital providers can also include treatment centres. Normally, if data are tabulated by health care provider, the figure for an NHS trust gives the activity of all the sites as one aggregated figure. 3. Outpatient Data Quality Outpatient Hospital Episode Statistics data were collected for the first time in 2003-04 and data quality, particularly for clinical information, remains poor. It is not mandatory to code procedures on outpatient records and only around 2% of records have completed clinical codes. We have no reliable existing data source to validate these data against, as Department of Health aggregate returns have never collected clinical codes; it is not clear how representative the figures are. The data represent a sample of outpatient attendances. Statistical estimates (such as median and 90th percentile waiting times for main operations) must be regarded as potentially unreliable until it is possible to assess the quality of local coding. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, Health and Social Care Information Centre

Lost Property

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more his Department lost in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The Department has not lost any single items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more in either 2010-11 or 2011-12.

Medical Treatments

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 16 May 2012, Official Report, column 154W, on pain: mental illness, if he will commission further research into the efficacy of mindfulness-based therapies in the treatment of chronic pain and associated depression.

Paul Burstow: The Department has no plans to specifically commission research into the efficacy of mindfulness-based therapies in the treatment of chronic pain and associated depression. However, the Department's National Institute for Health Research welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including mindfulness-based therapies. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the scientific quality of the proposals made.

Medical Treatments Abroad

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients have sought treatment abroad that was paid for by the NHS since 2005.

Anne Milton: United Kingdom citizens can access treatment abroad funded by the national health service in four ways:
	by obtaining an E112, replaced by the S2 in May 2010, which allows one European economic area (EEA) country to send a patient to another EEA country for elective treatment;
	using the provisions of article 56 of the European treaty to access treatment in another European country and be retrospectively reimbursed by a primary care trust;
	by making an individual funding request to their primary care trust which enables a patient to receive treatment in any country, including those outside the EEA; and
	using the European Health Insurance Card to access emergency treatment while on a temporary visit to another EEA member state.
	Of these categories, the Department only holds figures for the number of E112s and S2s issued to NHS entitled patients in another EEA country, as shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Total number of E112s/S2s issued 
			 2005 363 
			 2006 419 
			 2007 552 
			 2008 1,153 
			 2009 1,377 
			 2010 1,212 
			 2011 1,208 
			 2012 to 18 May 523 
			 Full total 6,807

Mental Illness: Drugs

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has put in place to ensure coordination of commissioning of services for people with multiple diagnoses who require treatment for mental ill-health commissioned by GP consortia and drug treatment services commissioned by a local authority; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: Clinical commissioning groups will work with elected councillors, local authority commissioners and representatives of patients and the public through health and wellbeing boards to develop a comprehensive analysis of health and social care needs in each local area through Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs), and to translate these into action through Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies and their own commissioning plans. Health and wellbeing boards will promote joined up commissioning that will support integrated provision of services across the local health and social care system. This should mean that people who need both mental health and drug treatment services experience services that are better joined up and better meet their needs as individuals.
	The implementation framework for ‘No health without mental health' will set out what local organisations can do, both individually and in partnership, to better meet the needs of people with mental health problems, including people with complex needs and dual diagnosis.

Mental Illness: Drugs

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the number of people in the Brighton and Hove area who suffer from multiple diagnoses of mental ill-health and drug dependency; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: Mental health problems are common among drug misusers. One research study(1) found that up to 70% of the drug treatment population have common mental health problems such as anxiety disorders.
	(1) Weaver T, Stimson G, Tyrer P, Barnes T and Renton A (2004) What are the implications for clinical management and service development of prevalent comorbidity in UK mental health and substance misuse treatment populations? Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy 11, 329-348
	Although there has been no specific estimate of the number of people in the Brighton and Hove area with a dual diagnosis of mental ill-health and drug dependency, the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) records that out of a total of 1,513 adults in Brighton and Hove who received structured drug treatment during 2010-11, there were 133 in who were recorded as receiving care from mental health services for reasons other than substance misuse.
	It is important to note that:
	this is not a population estimate;
	that the mental health care tends to be treatment for more serious mental health problems, and may not include people suffering from all types of depression, and anxiety; and
	because the NDTMS collects information on people receiving structured drug treatment, its data do not include those who are not attending any mental health or drug treatment service, those who are drug dependent but are receiving their mental health care in a general practitioner setting and those who are attending mental health services but do not want or need structured drug treatment.

National Childbirth Trust: Training

Steve Brine: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to encourage students to train to become National Childbirth Trust practitioners.

Anne Milton: This scheme is an initiative of the National Childbirth Trust (NCT). We understand the NCT are working with the University of Worcester to provide accredited training for those wanting to support parents in transition to parenthood.
	The Department with a range of partners has developed a set of resources, based on the most recent evidence, called ‘Preparing for Birth and Beyond’, to be used by those delivering antenatal education to community groups. We understand that the NCT are using these resources in their work with parents-to-be and new mothers and fathers.

NHS: Pay

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS staff earn salaries in excess of (a) £30,000, (b) £50,000, (c) £100,000 and (d) £150,000.

Simon Burns: Information is not held centrally on the salaries of national health service staff.

Patients

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has considered the merits of introducing a Patients Service Obligation.

Simon Burns: There are existing legal duties on manufacturers and distributors of medicines to ensure appropriate and continued supplies to pharmacies within the limits of their responsibilities, so that the needs of patients are met. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is currently reviewing the public service obligations introduced by other European member states. The Government is cautious about increasing the regulatory burden on the supply chain.

Plastic Surgery: Death

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people died as a result of cosmetic surgery in each of the last five years.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many people have died as a result of cosmetic surgery in each of the last five years. (109243)
	It is not possible to provide an estimate of how many people have died as a result of cosmetic surgery from routine death registration data. Cause of death information provided at death registration is obtained from the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death and classified according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The ICD identifies causes related to “misadventures to patients during medical and surgical care” and “surgical operations and medical procedures that cause abnormal reactions” but does not provide the level of detail required to identify procedures related to cosmetic surgery.
	The number of deaths registered in England and Wales each year by sex, age, cause, marital status and place of death are published annually and are available here:
	www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/all-releases.html? definition=tcm%3A77-27475

Postnatal Depression

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to improve the quality of data on the number of women diagnosed with postnatal depression.

Anne Milton: We do not hold data on the number of women suffering from postnatal depression centrally.
	Postnatal depression encompasses a range of diagnoses from anxiety and depression to the more severe puerperal psychosis, with symptoms occurring a few weeks or months after birth. Postnatal depression may be diagnosed by different health professionals such as midwives, health visitors or general practitioners seeing women in different settings and using different information systems.
	The issue of improving links between maternity and mental health information collections to enable better analysis has been considered by the NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre. Recommendations for improvement will be developed during 2012-13.

Prescription Drugs

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received from NHS trusts and hospitals on prescription drugs shortages since January 2012.

Simon Burns: The Department received a total of 27 representations from national health service trusts in England (including hospitals) on medicines supply issues in the period 1 January 2012 to 18 May 2012. These form part of the routine work that the Department undertakes on mitigating and resolving shortages related to manufacturing issues. These figures are approximate, representing minimum figures received by the Department.

Prescription Drugs

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  when he last met representatives of (a) patients groups, (b) pharmaceutical companies, (c) community pharmacy representatives, (d) dispensing doctors and (e) GPs to discuss shortages of medicines at pharmacies;
	(2)  whether he has met patients who have been affected by shortages of medicines at local pharmacies;
	(3)  when he last discussed shortages of medicines at local pharmacies with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee;
	(4)  whether he has discussed shortages of medicines at local pharmacies with Ministers in the devolved administrations;
	(5)  what recent discussions (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have had with their EU counterparts on the export of medicines from the UK.

Simon Burns: Ministers regularly meet with interested parties and discuss medicines supply issues when they are raised. Officials regularly meet with interested parties to explicitly discuss medicines supply issues.

Prescription Drugs

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hours his Department has spent assessing shortages of medicines at local pharmacies since May 2010.

Simon Burns: Departmental officials routinely assess shortages of medicines as part of their day to day work in managing and mitigating medicines supply issues.

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun-off by his Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: Of the 40 Right to Request spin-outs that are currently operating as social enterprises to deliver and expand their services in new and innovative ways, 16 went live in 2010-11 and 24 went live in 2011-12.

Rape: Drugs

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the NHS has taken to ensure hospitals have early evidence kits to allow them to administer tests for the presence of date-rape drugs; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: The collection of evidence that can be used in criminal proceedings is the responsibility of the police. Early evidence kits are designed for the collection of samples to capture evidence following an allegation of sexual assault and, as such, are standard issue for police and forensic physicians, rather than accident and emergency (A&E) departments. Where someone has been assaulted and presents to an A&E department, they may be referred or taken to a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), many of which are located in hospitals. All SARCs are able to carry out a detailed forensic medical examination and to provide holistic treatment for the victim in the immediate aftermath of sexual assault. Alternatively, a forensic physician provided by the police can attend the A&E department to take initial samples. Guidance has been issued by the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine on the provision of samples for forensic use, and on testing for drugs.
	Testing for the presence of drugs requires a urine sample which any A&E department can collect if necessary and would not require the use of an early evidence kit. Hair can also be sampled up to one month later, depending on the drug used.

CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Churches: West Midlands

Karen Lumley: To ask the hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners, how many churches were closed in (a) Redditch and (b) the west midlands in 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12.

Tony Baldry: No Church of England churches in Redditch have closed under the Pastoral Measure 1983 from 2009 to date, although the Commissioners recently concluded that a draft scheme providing for the closure for regular public worship of Redditch St George should be allowed to proceed.
	In terms of the west midlands—for these purposes the dioceses of Hereford, Worcester, Lichfield, Birmingham and Coventry—schemes have been made to close four churches in this period, although one is yet to be brought into effect.
	The four schemes made for closures of churches in the west midlands were for Welsh Bicknor St Margaret and Brampton Abbotts St Michael and All Angels (both in Hereford); Rugby St Matthew (Coventry) and Droitwich Spa St Mary (Worcester). The latter scheme, involving a cemetery chapel not used for over 30 years, has not yet been brought into effect.

Metal Theft

Michael Dugher: To ask the hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners, what the cost was of metal theft from Church of England property in (a) Barnsley East constituency, (b) Barnsley metropolitan borough and (c) South Yorkshire in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011.

Tony Baldry: The insurance cover available from Ecclesiastical Insurance who insure the majority of churches in England has changed over the years in question, so a true year-on-year comparison of cost is difficult to make.
	(a) Figures are also not available specifically for the Barnsley East constituency.
	(b) The figures for the Barnsley metropolitan borough are as follows:
	
		
			  Claims Value of claims (£) 
			 2010 7 7,000 
			 2011 8 22,000 
		
	
	(c) In the wider area of South Yorkshire the figures are as follows:
	
		
			  Claims Value of claims (£) 
			 2010 127 257,000 
			 2011 135 237,000

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Recession

Iain McKenzie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking in response to the economy entering recession; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is driving forward the structural reforms that will help deliver the Government's economic ambitions. There is still much to do.
	The figures show inflation is down, exports are up, public borrowing is forecast, by the OBR, to fall this year and employment is up.

Cities

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to promote economic growth in cities; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Clark: The Government is devolving power to cities through the city deal process, giving new freedoms to cities to take bold and innovative approaches towards promoting economic growth at the local level. The Government has already announced radical deals devolving powers to Manchester and Liverpool. We are finalising negotiations with the remaining core cities, and deals are due to be announced in the next few weeks.

Catapult Centres

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what progress he has made on the roll-out of catapult centres.

David Willetts: The Technology Strategy Board has announced the seven Catapult centres that are to be established. The High Value Manufacturing Catapult opened for business in October 2011 and the other six centres in the areas of Cell Therapy, Offshore Renewable Energy, Satellite Applications, Connected Digital Economy, Transport and Future Cities are being developed and will all become operational during 2012-13.

Adult Education: Dyslexia

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to provide support for dyslexic students in adult education.

John Hayes: The Government funds basic English and maths courses for adults from entry level up to and including level 2. Each learner is expected to be given a diagnostic assessment of their learning needs which will inform a personalised learning plan. This will include identifying any specific learning difficulties including dyslexia and providing the necessary support.
	Further education providers also receive additional learning support funding which can be used to meet the costs of providing additional support to learners with learning difficulties.

Apprentices

Duncan Hames: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of apprenticeships terminated within 12 months in each of the last two years; and of those, how many apprentices left their placement for permanent employment.

John Hayes: Apprenticeships are of varying durations and we have taken ‘termination' in this case to mean leaving the apprenticeship early due to redundancy.
	The Learner Satisfaction Survey (2009) asked about reasons for leaving early. Fewer than 5% said they left due to redundancy.
	Accurate information on the reasons for non-completion is not currently available in administrative data (the Individualised Learner Record).
	Note that apprenticeships are not ‘placements' but jobs and the majority of these are permanent contracts. The Learner Satisfaction Survey shows that 17% of those who left the apprenticeship early said they did so to change jobs.
	In terms of what monitoring is in place for completed apprentices the Department (with NAS) undertakes surveys which ask about their employment outcomes after completion. The most recent (published May 2012) shows 89% in employment and 3% in education or training.
	We are also able to track apprentices through our matched datasets to look at wage and employment outcomes. This dataset is still quite new but has the potential to greatly enhance our knowledge of such outcomes.

Apprentices: South West

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses in (a) Newton Abbot constituency, (b) the South West and (c) England employed at least one apprentice in the latest period for which figures are available.

John Hayes: Information is not available on the number of businesses employing apprentices at the constituency level. In the South West there were 21,350 workplaces with at least one apprentice in-learning in the 2010/11 academic year. The total figure for England was 177,310 workplaces. The number of employers is recorded at the site (workplace) level, which means some large organisations can be counted more than once.
	Information on the number of apprenticeship starts is published in a quarterly statistical first release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 29 March 2012:
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_current
	Further breakdowns are available in SFR supplementary tables:
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_supplementary_tables/

Business

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the report by the All-Party Parliamentary Small Business Group on Breaking Down the Barriers to Entrepreneurship; and whether he plans to implement the recommendations of the report relating to his Department.

Mark Prisk: I would like to thank the All-Party Parliamentary Small Business Group for their report that we have only recently received. We will look carefully at their recommendations.

Business: Billing

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to promote best payment practices with small and medium-sized enterprise representative bodies; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: This Department supports and promotes the Institute of Credit Management's Managing Cashflow guides, which contain helpful advice on payment terms and invoicing for small businesses and have attracted over 300,000 downloads. I have also convened a prompt payment working group, which is exploring measures to help small and medium sized businesses invoice customers promptly and accurately, promote good practice among the small business community and encourage better relationships between small businesses and their large customers. This working group will meet again in the summer. We are at present taking forward a body of work both with this group and the members of the Small Business Economic Forum; actions and proposals arising from this work will be published in due course.

Business: Government Assistance

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking 
	(1)  to assist small and medium-sized enterprises to grow;
	(2)  to encourage the creation of new small and medium-sized enterprises.

Mark Prisk: We want to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business, and for the next decade to be the most entrepreneurial and dynamic in Britain's history. That is why, in January, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister launched “Business in You”, a major year-long campaign, to inspire people to realise their business ambitions and to highlight the range of support available for start-ups and growing businesses.
	We recognise that these are challenging times for new and existing businesses and we have introduced a range of measures to encourage people to set up their own business and support to help businesses survive and grow.
	Encouraging an entrepreneurial mindset
	We are supporting a number of measures aimed at inspiring young people to think about setting up their own business, including:
	Supporting every school to develop and run its own business through “the Enterprise Village”
	www.enterprisevillage.org.uk
	Supporting the Premier League in developing a Premier League Enterprise Academy model, enabling football clubs to foster enterprise among young people and principally in deprived areas.
	Supporting the Inspiring the Future initiative
	www.inspiringthefuture.org
	which aims to get 100,000 people to volunteer to go into schools to talk about their jobs and careers.
	Supporting Speakers for Schools
	http://www.speakers4schools.org/
	which aims to have 1,000 speakers who can address the topical issues of the day.
	Supporting the development of Tenner (a programme providing school children with £10 to fund a business idea and to grow their money).
	Supporting the creation of student-led enterprise societies and ensuring their support is accessible to all students in further education and higher education by 2015.
	Ensuring individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can access the support and advice they need to start and grow their business
	We have transformed the way that we enable people to access the information, guidance and advice they need to start and grow a business. We have put in place a range of services including;
	An improved www.businesslink.gov.uk website including My New Business, a comprehensive start-up service, and a new Growth and Improvement Service.
	A Business Link helpline which will support those who are unable to access the internet.
	A mentoring portal www.mentorsme.co.uk providing an easy route to find experienced business mentors.
	Ensuring businesses can access the finance they need
	Ensuring the flow of credit to viable SMEs is essential for supporting growth and is a core priority for this Government. The Government has:
	Introduced a new National Loan Guarantee Scheme: up to £20 billion of guarantees for bank funding will be available over two years allowing banks to offer lower cost lending to SMEs.
	Increased the funds available to invest through the Business Finance Partnership (BFP) to £1.2 billion. Government has invited the first round of proposals to help businesses access non-bank finance through the BFP, and will allocate £100 million of the BFP to invest through non-traditional lending channels.
	Announced the continuation of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme until 2014/15, providing, subject to demand, over £2 billion in total over the next four years.
	Announced continuation of the Government's Enterprise Capital Funds programme, increasing our commitment by £200 million over the next four years, providing for more than £300 million of venture capital investment to address the equity gap for early stage innovative SMEs.
	Announced a new £10 million Startup Loans scheme to provide start-up finance for 18 to 24-year-olds looking to start their own business due to be launched later this month.
	Encouraged Business Angel investment through a new £50 million Business Angel Co-Investment Fund.
	Welcomed the report of the industry review of non-bank lending chaired by Tim Breedon and will take forward its recommendations over the course of this year, including: considering how to simplify access to Government support for smaller businesses; encouraging prompt payment by larger firms; and supporting industry work to remove barriers to alternative sources of finance.
	Introduced a Regional Growth Fund, a £2.4 billion fund operating across England from 2011 to 2015. It supports projects and programmes that lever private sector investment creating economic growth and sustainable employment.
	Ensuring that regulation supports business growth
	Introduced a ‘one-in, one-out' rule whereby no new regulations which impose costs on businesses can be brought in without regulation of an equivalent value being removed.
	Introduced a three-year moratorium on new domestic regulation affecting micro businesses and genuine start-ups.
	Introduced the Red Tape Challenge to tackle the stock of regulation via a comprehensive thematic review which aims to identify regulations that could be removed, simplified or done in a different way. By the end of December 2011 we had scrapped or simplified over 600 regulations.
	Reformed the way in which regulations are implemented, including a review of regulators to ensure enforcement arrangements are appropriate and proportionate. Government will also launch sector-based reviews of regulation to ensure it is enforced at the lowest possible cost to business.
	Announced significant deregulation of employment law in order to reduce barriers to businesses taking on new staff.
	Encouraging exporting SMEs
	Export markets are vital for growth. We have taken a number of measures to support exporting, including:
	Government will spend £35 million to double, from 25,000 to 50,000, the number of SMEs that UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) supports a year by 2015. Many components of the UKTI product are aimed at SMEs:
	Passport to Export is a trade development programme offering new and inexperienced exporters help and support to build the capability to start exporting proactively and make their first visit to an export market. Launched in 2001, it has helped around 14,000 SMEs as of January 2012.
	Gateway to Global Growth offers experienced SME exporters the opportunity to increase their exporting skills and awareness of what is on offer from UKTI and private sector suppliers. The aim is to help them enter more difficult markets or expand in existing ones.
	Market Visit Support provides assistance to new to export and/or new to market SMEs visiting overseas markets, individually or in groups as part of their trade development process.
	Budget 2012 set out an ambition to more than double annual UK exports to £1 trillion by 2020 through additional measures including expanding the overseas role of UK Export Finance to enable it to develop finance packages that could help UK exporters secure opportunities identified through UKTI's High Value Opportunities programme; helping secure temporary private sector office space overseas for new UK exporters in high growth countries where such services are difficult to obtain; and continuing to increase UK Export Finance's regional presence in the UK to support SMEs seeking trade finance.
	Measures to encourage entrepreneurship in specific groups:
	Introduced 24 Enterprise Zones across England to generate businesses and jobs, helping to rebalance the economy. Benefits to business include a simplified planning regime, a business rate discount worth up to £275,000 over a five year period, priorities and Government support to ensure that super-fast broadband is rolled out throughout the zones.
	Be the Boss—a £5 million fund to allow the Royal British Legion to help ex- service personnel to set up and grow businesses by reducing the costs and barriers associated with self-employment and start-ups, including mentoring support.
	Working with social landlords to remove red tape and encourage more tenants to start up businesses.

Business: Regulation

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he has taken to reduce the burden of regulation on (a) small and medium-sized and (b) other businesses.

Mark Prisk: The Government has a comprehensive approach to cutting the burden of red tape. We have:
	capped the cost of new regulation;
	identified hundreds of existing regulations to be scrapped; and
	introduced a moratorium from regulation for all micro businesses.

Business: Regulation

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to reduce the administrative burden on small and medium-sized enterprises; and whether his Department plans to take any further steps to reduce such burdens.

Mark Prisk: This Government has taken specific and concrete steps to reduce the administrative burden on small and medium sized enterprises:
	We have already saved small and medium-sized enterprises £388 million by not extending the right to request time to train to businesses with fewer than 250 employees;
	The display ban on tobacco, which applies to supermarkets and very large stores from April 2012, will not apply to smaller tobacco retailers until April 2015;
	We are phasing implementation of pensions auto enrolment, so that small business will not need to comply until June 2015;
	We have achieved agreement in Brussels exempting up to 1.4 million UK small businesses from certain EU accounting rules.
	More widely, the Government introduced a three year moratorium on new domestic regulation for micro-businesses and start-ups from 1 April 2011 in order to support growth and establish a period of increased regulatory stability for the smallest businesses.
	To help reduce the burden of new business regulation we have introduced the One-in, One-out rule, so that if a Department wants to introduce a new rule which generates costs for business, they must first identify a corresponding cut in regulation elsewhere with the same value.
	We are running the Red Tape Challenge, a process for scrapping and simplifying existing regulations that are obsolete.
	Finally, we recently launched Focus on Enforcement, to improve the impact on business of how regulations are enforced.
	We will continue to use the One-in, One-out rule to stem the tide of burdens flowing from domestic regulation, and different themes continue to come in to the spotlight under the Red Tape Challenge, along with ongoing review of regulators as part of Focus on Enforcement.

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his Department's total level of carbon emissions was between (a) 1 April 2010 and 1 April 2011 and (b) 2 April 2011 and 1 April 2012.

Norman Lamb: The information requested is as follows:
	(a) BIS's carbon emissions from its office estate for financial year 2010/11 were 6,534.59 tonnes.
	(b) BIS's carbon emissions from its office estate for financial year 2011/12 were 3,991.5 tonnes. This represents a 38.92% reduction in emissions compared to 2010/11. This significant reduction can be attributed in large part (2,446.53 tonnes) to the vacation of Kingsgate House in March 2011.

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what measures his Department introduced to reduce its carbon emissions in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Norman Lamb: The Greening Government Commitments which were announced in 2010 have set the target to reduce carbon emissions by 25% by 2014/15 from a 2009/10 baseline. To meet this target and to reduce BIS's resource consumption and related operational costs a number of measures have been introduced.
	(a) In May 2010 David Cameron announced the 10% carbon reduction campaign, to be achieved within a year. BIS participated in this by carrying out a variety of measures:
	Expediting site rationalisation process.
	Installed voltage reduction equipment.
	Aligned operating temperatures with best practice for the public sector and adjusted set points on heating and cooling.
	Implementing an “optimal core hours window” for heating and cooling.
	Revising server room cooling temperatures.
	Eliminating unnecessary or redundant internal and external lighting.
	Installed timers on lifts and shut off six lifts at the weekend and evenings.
	Turning computers and monitors off properly during prolonged absences.
	An internal communications campaign run jointly by Estates and Internal Communications teams, which ran poster campaigns, intranet stories, off and online suggestion boxes and foyer displays.
	(b) In March 2011 BIS vacated Kingsgate House a year before the lease expiry and all non-essential plant was switched off with the building mothballed as far as possible.
	The measures which were introduced in 2010 were maintained and replicated. This included the partial shutdown of 1 Victoria street during the Christmas period with heating only provided to the ‘spur’ of the building.
	(c) In 2012, BIS are continuing to monitor energy consumption and limit plant running times to reduce consumption.
	Projects that are taking place which have an energy reduction component to them include replacing cooling plant in two buildings with more efficient chillers and a lift refurbishment project. A toilet refurbishment project is currently out to tender and the specification has stipulated low voltage lighting and hand dryers.

Careers Advice: Postgraduate Education

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to ensure that tailored careers advice is available to (a) undergraduate students considering postgraduate study, (b) people in work considering postgraduate study and (c) people undertaking postgraduate study.

John Hayes: High quality information, and independent, professional advice and guidance for those who need it most, are a vital part of an efficient labour market which drives growth. The National Careers Service provides such information and advice so that people can make learning and career choices which are well informed and reflect their own circumstances. Universities also have their own university careers services which are particularly well placed to offer careers advice to individuals considering postgraduate courses of study.

Conditions of Employment

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether representatives from (a) trades unions and (b) employers were consulted in the development of the Beecroft Report.

Norman Lamb: This is a matter for Mr Adrian Beecroft and not for the Government. The report was produced independently by Mr Beecroft whom we expect would have spoken to a range of interested parties in preparing the report. The analysis and recommendations in the report are his own and do not represent the views of the Government.

Construction: Billing

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what arrangements are in place for sub-contractors to report incomplete payments made by contractors in the construction sector; how complaints are arbitrated; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: The Government has taken a number of measures to improve cash flow in the construction industry. These include:
	improving the Construction Act to increase access to adjudication (a quick 28 day dispute resolution process), improving communication of what is to be paid and remove unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape.
	making it a contractual requirement that payment reaches the third tier of the supply chain within 30 days on Government construction projects.
	increasing the use of project bank accounts.
	More generally BIS supports the Institute of Credit Management's Prompt Payment Code and Cash Flow Management Guides. The public sector seeks to set an example in this with a commitment that central Departments pay 80% of invoices within five days. People working on public sector contracts can report cases of non-payment to the Efficiency Reform Group in the Cabinet Office.

Construction: Billing

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which representatives of the construction sector he has met to discuss payment practices in the last six months; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: I regularly meet many organisations, including those in the construction sector, to discuss a wide range of issues.

EU Internal Trade

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the recommendations of the British Chamber of Commerce's report, Exporting is Good for Britain but Market Barriers Stifle Opportunities, if he will press for the full implementation of the European Single Market.

Norman Lamb: Yes. The UK has been at the forefront of calls for the full implementation of the various EU directives which enhance the single market. The EU Commission are due to launch a further range of measures to achieve this aim and we have been engaging with them and other member states to ensure that the proposals actually address the problems, particularly in the areas of services and improving the governance of the single market to ensure member states live up to their commitments.

Exports: Copyright

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the (a) size and (b) importance of copyright licensing to the UK's exports.

Norman Lamb: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has not made its own assessment of the size and importance of copyright licensing to the UK's exports.
	The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Creative Economy Report 2010 shows that in 2008 the UK exported nearly $20 billion in creative goods:
	http://archive.unctad.org/templates/webflyer.asp?docid =14229&intitemID=5763&lang=1&mode=downloads
	This figure informed the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth.
	Estimates of export licence income, including copyright, are included in ONS surveys of International Trade in Services, which is summarised in United Kingdom Balance of Payments—The Pink Book at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/bop/united-kingdom-balance-of-payments/2011/tsd-pink-book-2011-time-series.html
	The intellectual Property Office is working with ONS to improve estimates of copyright investment and income in UK national accounts.

Exports: North West

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the value was of exports to (a) European economic area (EEA) and (b) non-EEA countries from (i) the North West and (ii) Pendle in 2011.

Mark Prisk: HMRC publish regional trade in goods data on the UKTradeinfo website.
	(i) In 2011 exports of goods from the North West region to (a) EEA countries was £13.6 million, while exports to (b) non-EEA countries was £12.5 million.
	It is not possible to calculate a value for Pendle as data are only published at a regional level.

Food: Prices

Anne McGuire: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the Answer of 23 April 2012, Official Report, column 738W, on labelling: food, what assessment he has made of the ability of customers to compare the price of food items which are priced differently when provided for sale loose and packaged; and what steps he plans to take to provide clearer pricing information.

Norman Lamb: The Department has made no assessment of the ability of customers to compare the price of food items which are priced differently when provided for sale loose and/or packaged.
	The Price Marking Order 2004 requires the selling price and, where appropriate, the unit price of products to be clearly displayed. The unit price is required for products sold loose from bulk and also for goods pre-packed in a constant quantity. Pre-packaged products are required by weights and measures legislation to be marked by weight or volume. The Department has no plans at this stage to require clearer pricing information.
	Any evidence of breach of this legislation should be brought to the attention of the relevant local authority trading standards service.

Foreign Investment in UK: Pakistan

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the level of foreign direct investment in the UK from Pakistani investors in each of the last five years.

Mark Prisk: Estimates of foreign direct investment in the UK are produced by the Office for National Statistics. Data for the last five years are shown below. Data for 2011 are due for publication in February 2013.
	
		
			 Investment from Pakistan in the UK, 2006-10 
			 £ million 
			  2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 
			 FDI flows 9 4 0 n/a 0 
			 FDI stocks 84 97 n/a n/a 91 
			 FDI earnings 12 5 0 n/a 0 
			 n/a = Not available Source: BIS analysis of ONS data

Four Seasons Health Care

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department had any communication with Terra Firma representatives about the company's short and long-term plans for the care and nursing home group, Four Seasons, prior to its recent takeover of Four Seasons; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills received correspondence from Terra Firma following its takeover of Four Seasons Health Care. Responsibility for the regulation and oversight of the residential care sector rests with the Secretary of State for Health, the right hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley). I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on 21 May 2012, Official Report, column 460W, by the Minister of State, Department of Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Burstow).
	Officials in the Shareholder Executive have been providing professional advice to the Department of Health to assist it in its work.

Intellectual Property and Growth Review

Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what timetable he has set for the introduction of legislative proposals resulting from the consultation on the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property (HRoIP); whether these will be in the form of primary or secondary legislation; whether Option 5 in the consultation document on the HRoIP relating to educational exceptions is still under consideration by his Department; if he will publish (a) the responses to the consultation and (b) the results of the research his Department has undertaken on the costs and benefits of the various options in the consultation; what assessment he has made of the merits of undertaking consultation with collecting societies prior to the consultation on the HRoIP; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: The Government responded to the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth in August 2011, and committed to bringing forward proposals for the opening up of the UK's copyright exceptions regime. The Government then ran a consultation on copyright from 14 December 2011 to 21 March 2012. The collecting societies were active participants in that process. The Government is currently considering responses and the way forward.

Lost Property

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more his Department lost in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: No items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more were lost by the Department in (a) 2010-11 or (b) 2011-12.

Ministerial Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on what dates (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) senior officials in his Department have met representatives of (i) the Institute for Public Policy Research, (ii) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) ResPublica, (v) the Centre for Social Justice and (vi) Policy Exchange; and if he will publish the minutes and agendas of these meetings.

Norman Lamb: Information about Ministers' meetings is now published quarterly and can be accessed via the following link. Details of meetings which occurred prior to publication in October 2009 and meetings with officials, which are not recorded centrally, could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/transparency/staff

Offshore Industry: Trade Unions

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect on (a) trade union membership levels and (b) trade union organising in the offshore energy sector of the practical difficulties for trade unions of gaining access to workplaces on offshore installations.

Norman Lamb: I have made no such assessment and am not aware of any evidence that one is necessary.
	Regional officers for both UNITE and RMT trade unions are located in Aberdeen and have easy access to the offshore workforce via the heliport in Aberdeen through which the majority of offshore workers will pass during the course of a fortnight. In addition, most offshore installations will have shop steward representation and there are also good email facilities on platforms.

Overseas Trade: BRIC Countries

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the recommendations of the British Chamber of Commerce's report, Exporting is Good for Britain but Market Barriers Stifle Opportunities, if he will take steps to assist small and medium-sized businesses to access markets in Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Mark Prisk: UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) focuses on 20 high growth and emerging markets, including Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). UK exports to these markets have been growing particularly strongly. Over the past year, for instance, UK goods exports to India grew by 31% and to China by 15%.
	UKTI is encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to increase exports to these markets by:
	Raising awareness among UK businesses of these markets through a series of outreach events like “Doing Business in Asia” and “Journey through Latin America”. Set-piece activities focused on the last and the next hosts of the Olympic games (i.e. China and Brazil) will take place at the British Business Embassy during the Olympic games.
	Communicating to SMEs the specific business opportunities in BRIC markets via the UKTI website, and through UKTI's network of teams in the UK and in the BRIC markets.
	Campaigning for better access for UK companies in these markets, including engaging in Government to Government trade dialogues and backing plans for ambitious EU free trade agreements. UK trade dialogues with BRIC markets are attended by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable) and take place annually.
	Ensuring there are targeted services and advice available for businesses considering these markets. The UKTI website provides free-of-charge guidance for doing business in the BRIC markets. The guidance includes a comprehensive guide on doing business, sectoral briefings, case studies, information on business risk and regular updates on the political and economic situation in the BRIC markets. On top of this free advice, UKTI also provides paid services tailored to the individual needs of UK businesses.

Overseas Trade: China

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of exports were to China in each of the last three years.

Mark Prisk: Data on exports of goods from the UK to China are available from the UKTradeinfo website. Data are shown in the following table.
	In 2011 3.0% of UK exports of goods were to China.
	In 2010 2.7% of UK exports of goods were to China.
	In 2009 2.3% of UK exports of goods were to China.
	
		
			 £ million 
			 UK exports to: 2011 2010 2009 
			 China 8,773 7,225 5,129 
			 World 295,629 263,905 226,323 
			 Source: BIS Analysis of HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics

Overseas Trade: Libya

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which companies were represented on the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation mission to Libya from 29 April to 3 May 2012; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: The companies which participated in UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation's trade mission to Libya from 29 April to 3 May were BAE Systems, CAE, GD(UK), KBR, NATS, 3SDL, Selex Galileo, and Surrey Satellite Technology.

Patents

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many patents were issued in each sector in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Norman Lamb: holding answer 22 May 2012
	The following two tables give the number of UK patents (a) applied for at the Intellectual Property Office and (b) granted by the Intellectual Property Office for the calendar years 2002-11 by technical area.
	
		
			 (a) Number of UK national published patent applications by technical area 2002-11 
			 Technical area 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Agriculture; animal husbandry; forestry; fishing 223 173 186 231 200 179 214 175 149 213 
			 Foodstuffs; tobacco 89 89 95 77 77 74 60 62 66 64 
			 Apparel; footwear; jewellery; furniture; household articles 638 630 717 763 742 648 726 700 643 627 
			 Health; surgery; amusement 831 845 813 844 789 854 805 763 687 757 
			 Medical, dental or toilet preparations 131 134 133 132 107 136 147 138 124 127 
			 Separating; cleaning; crushing; coating 261 268 294 265 277 244 283 297 267 218 
			 Metal-working; machine tools 201 145 147 142 146 147 146 135 109 111 
			 Hand tools; shaping; layered products 312 349 371 342 405 324 297 281 269 300 
			 Printing; bookbinding; writing; decorating 193 190 171 176 142 166 133 113 90 81 
			 Vehicles; transporting; conveying; packing; containers 830 1,228 1,243 1,167 1,175 1,127 1,054 977 1,013 1,052 
			 Micro-structural technology; nano-technology 532 7 2 3 6 6 9 9 7 5 
			 Inorganic chemistry; glass; fertilisers 97 96 109 100 92 94 91 73 81 77 
			 Organic chemistry; biocides 203 176 130 138 115 135 117 119 118 85 
		
	
	
		
			 Macromolecular compounds 83 65 78 63 66 87 92 57 57 45 
			 Dyes; paints; oils; fats; petroleum; detergents 151 152 155 157 133 153 142 146 112 110 
			 Microbiology; alcoholic beverages; sugar; skins 112 94 94 78 77 98 79 82 100 64 
			 Metallurgy; electrolysis; crystal growth 79 95 82 73 76 91 59 69 76 54 
			 Textiles; sewing; ropes 119 96 73 61 68 73 45 52 67 57 
			 Paper 20 29 22 14 13 10 11 8 11 10 
			 Building; civil engineering; locks 817 657 788 689 716 802 721 721 645 631 
			 Earth or rock drilling; mining 423 469 610 537 500 521 408 459 429 473 
			 Engines; pumps; hydraulics; pneumatics 369 405 433 343 360 363 400 424 431 502 
			 Engineering elements; storing gases; pipe-lines 565 556 505 471 490 422 436 423 387 422 
			 Lighting; heating; cooling; drying; heat-exchange 292 283 260 289 223 243 266 332 309 290 
			 Weapons; ammunition; blasting; explosives 66 42 42 30 54 76 60 66 52 67 
			 Measuring; testing; optics; photography 1,036 987 1,027 936 993 1,033 854 825 832 832 
			 Controlling; computing; timing; checking; signalling 1,690 1,773 1,663 1,456 1,343 1,220 1,216 1,120 989 1,017 
			 Educating; advertising; music; recording 393 381 346 371 310 311 241 216 210 177 
			 Nucleonics 9 11 7 9 7 9 15 3 10 5 
			 Electric elements; electric power 1,014 1,038 1,012 872 908 971 844 766 792 737 
			 Electronic circuitry; telecommunications 1,780 1,626 1,385 1,307 1,236 1,255 1,090 959 890 832 
			 Others(unclassified) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 
			 Total 13,562 13,089 12,993 12,136 11,846 11,872 11,061 10,570 10,022 10,043 
		
	
	
		
			 (b) Number of UK national patents granted by technical area 2002-11 
			 Technical area 2002 200 3 200 4 200 5 200 6 200 7 200 8 200 9 201 0 201 1 
			 Agriculture; animal husbandry; forestry; fishing 101 157 138 112 112 60 63 67 89 84 
			 Foodstuffs; tobacco 65 53 54 78 52 41 19 19 27 47 
			 Apparel; footwear; jewellery; furniture; household articles 351 381 414 477 366 314 298 271 300 361 
			 Health; surgery; amusement 418 493 624 517 384 335 342 355 314 480 
			 Medical, dental or toilet preparations 51 48 116 74 52 54 61 61 76 79 
			 Separating; cleaning; crushing; coating 170 244 193 218 176 144 125 114 157 192 
			 Metal-working; machine tools 118 175 146 128 115 67 81 66 80 90 
			 Hand tools; shaping; layered products 236 275 264 256 228 167 138 143 168 170 
			 Printing; bookbinding; writing; decorating 153 161 161 151 109 92 82 70 50 41 
			 Vehicles; transporting; conveying; packing; containers 712 875 975 879 732 618 585 444 409 689 
			 Micro-structural technology; nano-technology 352 1 1 4 2 1 2 6 4 10 
			 Inorganic chemistry; glass; fertilisers 75 89 63 85 65 43 32 46 44 55 
			 Organic chemistry; biocides 72 110 167 85 43 48 42 66 73 79 
			 Macromolecular compounds 57 69 80 53 23 31 46 41 62 41 
			 Dyes; paints; oils; fats; petroleum; detergents 116 132 118 116 79 75 66 106 94 99 
		
	
	
		
			 Microbiology; alcoholic beverages; sugar; skins 44 46 84 61 46 33 42 29 46 55 
			 Metallurgy; electrolysis; crystal growth 68 105 84 82 51 45 31 19 35 58 
			 Textiles; sewing; ropes 79 79 67 78 44 16 12 31 49 32 
			 Paper 14 16 23 19 9 11 2 4 4 4 
			 Building; civil engineering; locks 569 597 508 561 466 307 285 322 335 410 
			 Earth or rock drilling; mining 364 514 393 535 551 367 341 311 387 498 
			 Engines; pumps; hydraulics; pneumatics 285 282 373 311 235 150 159 184 214 320 
			 Engineering elements; storing gases; pipelines 544 450 556 430 338 234 245 229 253 325 
			 Lighting; heating; cooling; drying; heat-exchange 167 163 155 236 143 101 102 141 127 156 
			 Weapons; ammunition; blasting; explosives 44 53 56 32 18 44 42 23 28 57 
			 Measuring; testing; optics; photography 778 806 759 840 732 555 510 610 602 656 
			 Controlling; computing; timing; checking; signalling 631 928 121 4 129 9 838 534 450 425 457 664 
			 Educating; advertising; music; recording 264 297 275 280 198 197 139 115 104 140 
			 Nucleonics 6 11 14 6 6 6 6 4 3 3 
			 Electric elements; electric power 805 798 831 937 673 536 460 489 401 635 
			 Electronic circuitry; telecommunications 978 135 3 163 5 121 9 102 1 704 552 617 602 643 
			 Others(unclassified) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 8,690 9,761 10,541 10,159 7,907 5,930 5,360 5,428 5,594 7,173

Patents

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many patents were registered in each region of the UK in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and what proportion of such patents were registered by universities.

Norman Lamb: holding answer 22 May 2012
	Global data on the numbers of patents granted by UK region or by universities are not readily accessible. There are 166 higher education institutions in the UK(1), of which 87 have had UK patent applications published since 2002. As regards patents granted by the Intellectual Property Office, table (a) gives the number of UK national patents granted for each UK region for the calendar years 2002-11. Table (b) shows the number of UK national patents granted held by universities by region for those years.
	
		
			 (a) Number of UK national patents granted by region 2002 to 2011 
			 Region 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 East Midlands 167 180 194 174 128 96 109 114 111 155 
			 East of England 359 420 492 484 371 284 272 302 288 409 
			 London 521 561 645 570 524 316 361 292 382 401 
			 North West 252 326 274 312 254 187 167 192 201 246 
			 Northern Ireland 25 13 18 32 13 11 10 11 7 16 
			 North East 52 54 51 64 82 33 32 37 41 70 
			 Scotland 163 183 162 179 138 130 117 127 169 207 
			 South East 611 799 820 822 607 428 411 421 472 591 
			 South West 327 355 350 390 344 207 212 209 244 363 
			 Wales 130 117 116 147 88 62 60 67 66 82 
			 West Midlands 419 360 332 287 234 149 159 167 163 216 
			 Yorkshire 177 172 216 200 150 125 132 146 141 175 
			 Unknown(1) 107 106 110 90 45 30 28 33 38 61 
			 Total 3,310 3,646 3,780 3,751 2,978 2,058 2,070 2,118 2,323 2,992 
			 (1) Data not available at point of capture. 
		
	
	
		
			 (b) Number of UK national patents granted by universities by region 2002 to 2011 
			 Region 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 East Midlands 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 7 3 6 
			 East of England 2 0 3 4 2 9 2 2 4 3 
			 London 4 5 12 6 8 1 3 9 10 6 
		
	
	
		
			 North West 2 2 3 4 0 2 0 1 5 8 
			 Northern Ireland 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 North East 2 2 2 0 3 1 1 2 0 0 
			 Scotland 5 11 8 10 8 5 6 3 3 7 
			 South East 4 9 14 6 8 6 4 8 12 9 
			 South West 4 1 6 0 0 1 0 6 4 1 
			 Wales 1 4 2 1 2 0 2 1 3 3 
			 West Midlands 1 4 5 5 4 3 2 3 7 4 
			 Yorkshire 4 7 11 14 5 12 10 4 6 8 
			 Total 33 48 68 54 42 43 32 46 57 55 
		
	
	(1) http://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php/component/option.com_hei contacts/ltemid.87

Patents: Higher Education

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many patents were registered by each university in the UK in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Norman Lamb: holding answer 22 May 2012
	Global data on the numbers of patents obtained by universities are not readily accessible, especially in relation to those obtained by UK universities in other countries or through routes other than direct to the Intellectual Property Office. There are 166 higher education institutions in the UK(1), of which 87 have had UK patent applications published since 2002. The following two tables show the numbers of (a) published patent applications and (b) granted patents which the Intellectual Property Office has processed for UK universities for each of the calendar years 2002-11.
	(1) Note:
	http://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php/component/option,com_heicontacts/ltemid,87
	
		
			 (a) Published patent applications filed by universities between 2002-11 
			 Rank Higher Education Institution 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Total 
			 1 The University of Sheffield 7 6 5 9 16 6 12 6 14 7 88 
			 2 The University of Cambridge 2 1 2 7 10 13 1 4 3 4 47 
			 2 The University of Oxford (Isis Innovations) 6 6 5 8 2 4 2 4 8 2 47 
			 2 The University of Southampton 4 4 6 5 6 8 3 3 2 6 47 
			 5 Sheffield Hallam University — 2 10 5 7 3 1 7 5 3 43 
			 6 Imperial College (Imperial Innovations) 11 4 2 4 1 4 2 — 3 5 36 
			 7 King's College London — — 7 2 7 5 2 5 2 — 30 
			 8 Cardiff University 2 2 5 2  9 2 2 3 2 29 
			 9 The University of Dundee 1 7 2 1 3 4 4 3 1 1 27 
			 10 Cranfield University 3  1 2 4 1 5 1 2 7 26 
			 10 De Montfort University 1 1 — — 3 1 10 5 — 5 26 
			 10 The University of Warwick 2 1 5 4 6 1 3 — 1 3 26 
			 13 The University of Surrey 2 2 5 3 1 4 — 1 3 4 25 
			 14 The University of Bristol 6 5 4 1 2 1 2 — 2 — 23 
			 15 The University of Manchester 1  3 3 2 1 2 1 7 2 22 
			 16 The University of Edinburgh — 1 1 4 2 4 2 2 1 4 21 
			 16 The University of Lancaster — 1 — — 2 — 3 3 4 8 21 
			 18 The University of Glasgow 9 4 1 1 — 2 — — 3 — 20 
			 18 University College London 7 4 3 2 2 — — 1 1 — 20 
			 20 The University of Nottingham — — 2 2 2 2 2 1 6 2 19 
			 21 Brunei University 4 — 1 1 — 1 2 3 1 5 18 
			 22 Loughborough University 2 1 3 1 — 2 — 1 2 3 15 
			 22 The University of Hull 1 4 1 — 3 2 1 2 1 — 15 
			 22 The University of Plymouth — — — — — 2 7 2 3 1 15 
		
	
	
		
			 25 The University of Aberdeen — 1 — 1 — 1 1 3 5 2 14 
			 25 The University of Bolton — — — — — 1 4 2 5 2 14 
			 25 University of Durham — — 1 3 1 6 1 1 1 — 14 
			 28 The University of York 1 6 — 2 — 3 1 — — — 13 
			 29 The University of Leeds 2 — 1 — 1 1 3 2 — 2 12 
			 29 The University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1 — — 2 — 1 2 3 1 2 12 
			 29 The University of Wolverhampton — — 1 — 2 3 5 1 — — 12 
			 32 The City University — 1 — — 1 3 — 1 2 3 11 
			 32 The University of Kent — — — 2 3 3 — 2 1 — 11 
			 32 The University of Sussex — — — 6 — 1 1 2 — — 11 
			 35 Bangor University — — 1 1 — — — 1 1 5 10 
			 35 London South Bank University — — — — — 3 2 — 2 2 10 
			 35 The University of Bradford — — 1 2 2 2 1 1 — — 10 
			 35 The University of Exeter 1 — — — — — 3 — 3 2 10 
			 35 The University of Greenwich — — 2 — — 1 1 1 — 5 10 
			 35 The University of Strathclyde 1 — 2 1 — — 1 2 — 3 10 
			 41 The Nottingham Trent University 2 — — — 1 — 1 1 4 — 9 
			 41 The University of St. Andrews 3 2 1 — 2 — — 1 — — 9 
			 43 Coventry University 1 1 — 1 1  1 3 — — 8 
			 43 Edinburgh Napier University 1 — — 1 — 1 1 1 3 — 8 
			 43 The Open University 2 — 1 — — 3  1 1 — 8 
			 43 The University of Salford 1 — — — — — — — 1 6 8 
			 43 University of Glamorgan — — — — — 1 3 1 3 — 8 
			 43 University of Hertfordshire 1 1 1 2  2 — — — 1 8 
			 49 Bournemouth University 3 — 1 — — — 1 — 1 1 7 
			 49 Heriot-Watt University 1 3 1 — — — 1 — — 1 7 
			 49 The Manchester Metropolitan University 1 — 1 — — 1 — 2 — 2 7 
			 49 The University of Leicester — — — 2 1 — — — — 4 7 
			 53 Aston University — — — 1 2 1 — 2 — — 6 
			 53 Queen Mary and Westfield College 2 — — 1 1 — — — — 2 6 
			 53 Royal College of Art 1 2 1 — — — — — 1 1 6 
			 53 The University of Bath 1 — 1 — — 1 1 1 — 1 6 
			 53 The University of East Anglia — 1 — — 2 1 — 2 — — 6 
			 53 The University of Northumbria at Newcastle 2 — — — 2 1 1 — — — 6 
			 59 Glasgow School of Art — 1 2 — 2 — — — — — 5 
			 59 Liverpool John Moores University — — 2 — 1 — — 1 — 1 5 
			 59 Royal Holloway and Bedford New College — 1 — 2 1 1 — — — — 5 
			 59 The Queen's University of Belfast — 1 — 1 — — 2 — — 1 5 
			 59 The University of Liverpool 1 — — — 1 — — 3 — — 5 
			 59 The University of Reading — — — 1 — 1 — — 2 1 5 
			 59 The University of Westminster — — — — — 4 — — 1 — 5 
			 66 Oxford Brookes University 1 — — — — 2 — — 1 — 4 
			 66 The University of Birmingham 1 — 1 — 1 — — — — 1 4 
			 68 Anglia Ruskin University — — 2 — — 1 — — — — 3 
			 68 Staffordshire University — 1 — 1 — — — — 1 — 3 
			 68 Teesside University — — — — — 1 — 2 — — 3 
		
	
	
		
			 68 The Robert Gordon University — 1 1 — — 1 — — — — 3 
			 68 The University of Brighton — — — — — — 1 — 2 — 3 
			 68 The University of Huddersfield — — — — — 1 — — 1 1 3 
			 74 London Metropolitan University — — — — — — — — 2 — 2 
			 74 Middlesex University — — — — — — — 1 1 — 2 
			 74 The Royal Veterinary College — — — — — — — 2 — — 2 
			 74 The University of Keele — — — — — 1 — 1 — — 2 
			 74 University of Abertay Dundee — — — — — — — — 1 1 2 
			 74 University of the West of England, Bristol — 1 — — 1 — — — — — 2 
			 74 University of Wales Institute Cardiff — — — — — — 1 — 1 — 2 
			 81 Aberystwyth University — — — 1 — — — — — — 1 
			 81 Birkbeck College — — — — — 1 — — — — 1 
			 81 Canterbury Christ Church University — — — — 1 — — — — — — 
			 81 The University of Central Lancashire 1 — — — — — — — — — — 
			 81 The University of Northampton — — — — — — — 1 — — — 
			 81 The University of Portsmouth — — — — — — — — — 1 — 
			 81 University of The Arts London — — — — 1 — — — — — — 
		
	
	
		
			 (b) UK national patents granted to universities 2002-11 
			 Rank Higher Education Institution 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Total 
			 1 The University of Sheffield 2 2 3 5 — 2 5 2 2 1 24 
			 2 The University of Cambridge — — 3 2 1 8 2 2 4 1 23 
			 3 The University of Warwick — 3 2 5 3 2 2 1 2 2 22 
			 4 Sheffield Hallam University — — 3 4 1 6 —  2 4 20 
			 4 The University of Southampton 1 2 5 — 1 2 2 3 2 2 20 
			 6 Cranfield University 2 5 3 — 1 1 — 1 1 3 17 
			 6 The University of Oxford {Isis Innovations) — 1 2 3 2 1 — 2 4 2 17 
			 8 King's College London — — — 2 2 — — 3 6 2 15 
			 9 Cardiff University — 3 2 1 2 — — — 2 3 14 
			 9 De Montfort University — 2 — — — 1 — 5 1 4 14 
			 9 University College London — 3 6 — 3 — — — 1  14 
			 12 The University of Dundee 1 — — 4 2 1 — 1 1 — 12 
			 12 The University of Glasgow — 8 1 1 — — — — — — 12 
			 14 Imperial College (Imperial Innovations) 3 — 1 2 1 — — — 2 — 11 
			 15 The University of Edinburgh 1 — — 1 2 2 2 — 1 — 10 
			 15 The University of Manchester — 1 2 3 — — — 1 2 — 10 
			 15 The University of Plymouth — — — — — — — 5 4 — 10 
			 15 The University of Surrey — 1 — 1 3 2 1 — 2  10 
			 15 The University of York 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 — — — 10 
			 20 The University of Nottingham 1 — — 1 2 2 — 2 — 1 9 
			 20 The University of St. Andrews 1 2 2 1 — 1 1 — 1 — 9 
			 22 The University of Hull — — 1 2 1 — 1 — 1 2 8 
		
	
	
		
			 23 The University of Bristol 4 1 1 — — — — — — — 7 
			 23 The University of Wolverhampton — — — — — 1 — — 3 2 7 
			 23 University of Durham 2  1  3 — — — — — 7 
			 26 The University of Bradford 1 — 1 — 2 — — — 1 — 6 
			 26 The University of Leeds — 1 — 1 — 1 2 — — — 6 
			 26 The University of Strathclyde — — — 1 1 — — 2 — 2 6 
			 29 Brunei University — 2 2 — — — — 1 — — 5 
			 29 Loughborough University — — — 2 — — — — 1 1 5 
			 29 The Open University — — — 1 — — — — 1 2 5 
			 29 The University of Bolton 1 1 — — — — — — — 3 5 
			 29 The University of Lancaster — — — 1 — 1 — — 1 2 5 
			 34 Coventry University 1 1 — — 1 — — — — — 4 
			 34 Edinburgh Napier University 2 1 — — — — — — — — 4 
			 34 Heriot-Watt University — — 2 1 — — — — — 1 4 
			 34 The Manchester Metropolitan University — — — — — — — — 2 1 4 
			 34 The Nottingham Trent University 1 1 — — — — — — 1 — 4 
			 34 The University of Aberdeen — — — 1 — — 1 — — 1 4 
			 34 The University of East London — 2 — — — — — — — — 4 
			 34 The University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne — 1 — — — — 1 1 — — 4 
			 34 The University of Sussex — — — 1 1 — — — 1 — 4 
			 34 University of Hertfordshire 1 — — 1 1 — — — — — 4 
			 44 Bournemouth University — — 3 — — — — — — — 3 
			 44 Glasgow School of Art — — — — 2 — — — — — 3 
			 44 Royal College of Art — — 2 1 — — — — — — 3 
			 44 Royal Holloway and Bedford New College — — — — 1 — — 1 — — 3 
			 44 The City University — — 1 — — — — 1 1 — 3 
			 44 The Queen's University of Belfast 2 — — 1 — — — — — — 3 
			 44 The University of Birmingham — — 2 — — — — 1 — — 3 
			 44 The University of East Anglia 1 — — — — — — — — 2 3 
			 52 Aston University — — 1 1 — — — — — — 2 
			 52 London South Bank University 1 — — 1 — — — — — — 2 
			 52 The Robert Gordon University — — 1 — 1 — — — — — 2 
			 52 The University of Greenwich — — — — 1 — — 1 — — 2 
			 52 The University of Keele — — — — — — — — 2 — 2 
			 52 The University of Northumbria at Newcastle — 1 1 — — — — — — — 2 
			 52 The University of Portsmouth — — 2 — — — — — — — 2 
			 52 The University of Reading 1 — — — — — — — 1 — 2 
			 52 University of Glamorgan — — — — — — — 1 1 — 2 
			 61 Aberystwyth University 1 — — — — — — — — — — 
			 61 Anglia Ruskin University — — — 1 — — — — — — — 
			 61 Bangor University — — — — — — 1 — — — — 
			 61 Birkbeck College — — — — — — 1 — — — — 
			 61 Canterbury Christ Church University — — — — — — — 1 — — — 
			 61 Liverpool John Moores University — — — — — 1 — — — — — 
			 61 London Metropolitan University — — — — — — — — — 1 — 
			 61 Middlesex University — — — — — — — 1 — — — 
		
	
	
		
			 61 Oxford Brookes University — — — — — — — 1 — — — 
			 61 Queen Mary and Westfield College — — — — — — — — — 1 — 
			 61 Swansea University — 1 — — — — — — — — — 
			 61 The University of Bath — — 1 — — — — — — — — 
			 61 The University of Central Lancashire 1 — — — — — — — — — — 
			 61 The University of Exeter — — 1 — — — — — — — — 
			 61 The University of Huddersfield — — — — — — — — — 1 — 
			 61 The University of Kent — — — — — — 1 — — — — 
			 61 The University of Leicester — — — — — — 1 — — — — 
			 61 The University of Salford — — — — — — — — — 1 — 
			 61 The University of Westminster — — — — — — 1 — — — — 
			 61 University of The Arts London — — — — — — — 1 — — — 
			 61 University of the West of England, Bristol — — — — — 1 — — — — —

Public Expenditure

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will publish a statement of his Department's expenditure in each of the last 36 months; and what steps his Department takes to avoid an annual underspend.

Norman Lamb: Since May 2010, the Department has published details of its monthly expenditure on its website at:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/transparency/financial
	In addition, the Department publishes quarterly data summaries to provide a snapshot on how the Department is spending its budget, the results it has achieved and how it is deploying its workforce. These can be found at:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/transparency/quarterly-data-summary
	Over the past two years the Department has taken significant steps to strengthen its financial management and to best position it to deliver our spending review funding and reform challenges. In order to manage our finances we have implemented improved governance, which helps the Department to avoid overspends and underspends. The improved governance includes the introduction of additional budget controls, a formal mid year review, enhanced financial forecasting and volatility analysis, improved financial guidance, financial forecasting performance objectives and automated administration tools.

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun-off by his Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is committed to supporting the creation and growth of public service mutuals.
	Online Centres Foundation was established in 2011-12 as a mutual, staff owned company, by staff previously employed by Ufl to manage UK Online Centres. Following a tendering process undertaken by the Skills Funding Agency, the foundation was appointed as the managing agent for the UK Online Centres with effect from 1 December 2011.
	In addition a number of further education colleges, as private sector organisations delivering public services, are exploring mutualisation within projects supported through the Cabinet Office Mutual Pathfinder Programme. The Community Learning Trust Pilots prospectus also included mutuals operating as social enterprises as a potential operating model for pilot trusts.

Regional Growth Fund

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the likely net cost will be of each additional job generated by rounds 1 and 2 of the Regional Growth Fund; and what the average cost was of an additional job created by a regional development agency in England between 2002 and 2007.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 23 May 2012
	The net cost per job for the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) was £32,000 in round 1 and £34,000 in round 2. As set out in the NAO Regional Growth Fund report published on 11 May, the detailed appraisal process is in line with HM Treasury's Green Book and reflects good practice. As set out in the NAO Regional Growth Fund report, the average cost per net additional job generated by Regional Development Agencies occurring as a result of spend between 2002 and 2007 is £28,000, with wide variation between schemes.
	It is important to note that the NAO report sets out that it is difficult to benchmark RGF cost per net additional job against the cost per net additional job of similar previous programmes because evaluations do not contain strictly comparable information. However, the report stated that based on the information available, the RGF cost per net additional job is similar to the cost per net additional job achieved by programmes with comparable objectives.
	Comparing the impact of the RGF with the impact of the RDAs is difficult for a number of reasons. The RDA schemes and the RGF schemes occurred during very different points in the economic cycle and the remit of each was very different, with the remit of the RDAs being much wider. Furthermore, as there are some differences in the approaches taken to assess net benefit it is also worth comparing RGF and RDA spend in terms of gross impact:
	Over the period 2002/03 to 2006/07 the RDAs invested £8.7 billion of public funds which leveraged £5.7 billion of private sector funding and created or safeguarded 502,281 jobs.
	Over the period 2011/12 to 2013/14 RGF is expected to invest £1.4 billion of public funds which will leverage £7.7 billion of private sector funding and create or safeguard approximately 330,000 gross jobs.

Regional Growth Fund

Phil Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the National Audit Office's May 2012 report on the Regional Growth Fund in respect of providing effective support to business; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: The National Audit Office (NAO) report identified that the Government chose the right projects for funding that offered better returns, in the right places, and that the fund should create or safeguard around 328,000 jobs.
	The NAO highlighted there was no bias in project selection, and the right investment decisions were made based on robust analysis. The fund levers in approximately £6 of private money for every £1 of public money invested.

Regional Growth Fund

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the National Audit Office's May 2012 report on the Regional Growth Fund in respect of providing effective support to business; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: The NAO report identified that the Government chose the right projects for funding that offered better returns, in the right places, and that the fund should create or safeguard around 328,000 jobs.
	The NAO highlighted there was no bias in project selection, and the right investment decisions were made based on robust analysis. The fund levers in approximately £6 of private money for every £1 of public money invested.

Retail Trade: Newspaper Press

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will make an assessment of recent trends in the margins that small retailers receive for the sales of local newspapers, including the effects of delivery charges and wholesaler and publisher control of the supply chain.

Norman Lamb: There are currently no plans to assess recent trends in the margins that small retailers receive for the sales of local newspapers, including the effects of delivery charges and wholesaler and publisher control of the supply chain.
	The OFT announced on 1 March 2012 that, following a consultation with interested parties, it will not be carrying out an update review of the newspaper and magazine distribution sector, primarily on the grounds that consumers would not be likely to benefit significantly as a result of such a review. This assessment was confined to national newspaper and magazine distribution, and did not consider the supply of local newspapers to retailers.
	Should you consider that the issue you raise gives rise to competition concerns, you may wish to raise this with the OFT directly.

South America

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many delegations UK Trade and Investment has organised to (a) Brazil and (b) South America since May 2010; and how many companies from (i) the North East and (ii) the UK have participated.

Mark Prisk: United Kingdom Trade and Investment has organised 49 trade missions to Brazil and an additional 35 missions to South America since May 2010.
	In total, 668 companies participated in these missions of which 16 companies were from the North East.

Student Numbers

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect on the demographics of the student population of the introduction of the core and margin model.

David Willetts: The Department published an impact assessment and equality impact assessment on the proposals in the Higher Education White Paper in June 2011. These are available at:
	http://discuss.bis.gov.uk/hereform/all-documents/
	We do not anticipate any significant impact on the demographics of the student population arising from the core and margin policy.
	We will monitor the impact of these changes through the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Students: Loans

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on what date he plans to publish the equality impact assessment for his 24+ Advanced Learning Loans.

John Hayes: The Equality Impact Assessment for 24+ Advanced Learning loans will be published alongside the overall Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) for FE loans, publication of which is anticipated following clearance by the Regulatory Reform Committee.